The Glitch, Revamped
by AbstractRainbow
Summary: A complete re-write of the older story, to contain the missing pieces, as voted upon. WIP, F/F, OC, AU
1. Through The Rabbit Hole

_**This re-write is dedicated to a loyal reader on both of the sites in which I post fanfiction, Rain Addict CM. Thank-you very much for your reviews and responses.**_

_**The Glitch**__** new version 2.0 !**_

_**Now with better/longer chapters, fewer technical difficulties, holes filled in, and**__ (hopefully)__** better writing! **__**The Glitch**__** is finally being re-written, all just for you lovely readers.**__ (Please see original version where it is posted for temporarily finished product until the re-write is completed)_

_**Due to glitches in AFF's systems (no pun intended, really) large portions of the original work were missing when it was posted. I would have fixed this at the time… had I been aware of it. However, I was all spacey and didn't notice, so you've all missed out… and likely wondered where the hell Chrissy came from in the first place, when it was that Faith found out, and what some of the drama and such was that went down.**_

_**I haven't managed to recover the original files from my deceased laptop, as my friend has yet to yank the harddrive and turn it into an external for me, but the few who have voted on the polls have asked that an entire re-write be done. This will hopefully be improving the over-all quality, and I'll be using my sketchy memory to the best of its ability to fill in the blanks. If you're new to this story, then that doesn't mean a whole lot to you, but for those who have read the original version, you may or may not be breathing a sigh of less-than-relief. Wish me luck, and please do prod and pester as often as possible to keep me going.  


* * *

**_Nataunia looked suspiciously at the clothing she'd done, at least to her eyes, a good job of folding, rolling, and packing tightly into her duffle. She would worry about the lack of variety in her wardrobe, but really she didn't care. No one else did. Cargo pants, cargo Capris, and two skirts that were a part of her wardrobe due to someone that the girl was determined not to think about… added in with those were an array of tank tops and spaghetti straps, and her favorite 'hoodie'. Beyond that, it was just undergarments, and a single pair of tight jeans that had seen better days, bleach stained and worn through at the knees… but they were comfortable and fit her like a glove. She was leaving behind the majority of her cold-weather clothing because, honestly, she didn't expect her Aunt to be able to stand her for long enough that the weather would take that dramatic of a change. She'd have her jacket, that would be good enough.

The clothes pretty much buried her toiletries, that she'd bagged and thrown in first hand, and with those necessities packed, she had little left to worry about. Her makeup, extra jewelry, and a few trinkets would likely be shoved into her sling bag, and she had one or two things to fetch out of the 'kit', but other than that, all of her worldly possessions that she actually felt the need to have on hand fit into a duffle bag and sling, with a bit of room to spare. It was kind of sad. Nataunia looked around at her room again, seeing the stereo, TV, and gaming system where they always were, doomed to collecting dust while she was away, as the maid didn't even like coming into her room, her bed, bookshelves… and the computer. It wasn't a very home-y room, really. She didn't like placing too much sentimental value on possessions, and had little in the way of mementos. The only thing she'd really miss would be the computer, and only at that for the internet. Her aunt would likely have something, if she was allowed on it.

"… _don't want to protect you from the world. I want to show it to you._"

The dialogue that filtered through the TV then distracted the girl's eyes back to the screen, and she smiled fondly at the re-run of the previous season's last episode. She'd seen it enough times already, taped for just such a convenience, that she hadn't been paying much mind to it in the background as she packed. It was dramatic, it was cheesy, and it was utterly amazing. It just wouldn't be Buffy, or her favorite show, if it weren't for the occasional cheese. _Captain Cardboard didn't get that._ Willow hadn't meant the dairy product when she told him what Buffy liked… but then again, she doubted the dense character would have understood if it had been clarified either.

The girl turned her back to the screen again, bending to slide out an old suitcase from under her bed instead of paying attention to the previews. She'd already checked a few spoiler sites. Not enough to really ruin any surprises or the over all she-bam of the season, but she'd have a good idea already of what the preview for the upcoming episodes would be, and was well aware that the beloved Dark Slayer would be returning again. "Fucking zipper."

It deserved the scorn, though that was what she got for picking up the old, beaten suitcase at a thrift store. Second hand was second hand, and was thus prone to quirks and problems… but that was what endeared her to the luggage piece, at least when it behaved. It looked to fit its purpose, though, which was the primary reason for its purchase. Inside was what had been a pass-time, something meant to amuse and distract her in the reading, and then search for components, after the incident near the end of the last school year. Spare clothes, though they were likely to get moth-eaten as she didn't really ever use, or even move, them, were draped over the rest of the kit's items, hiding it from easy observation. Foremost beneath the old sweatpants and hooded sweatshirt was a beaten, somewhat stained, and obviously loved copy of the Zombie Survival Guide. The kit wasn't meant to be serious, but it had been engrossing to find what she needed for it, and the Guide itself had distracted her while in the hospital.

The book itself she quickly shoved into her sling bag, thinking that maybe it would stand to entertain her during some of the most boring hours. Other than that, she was delving into the suitcase for one, primary reason. The blade buried at the bottom, and thus least likely to catch attention from an outside viewer, was something she didn't intend to leave behind. It wasn't so much that Nataunia really thought she'd need to use a machete- that was insanely unlikely, truth be told- but she didn't trust her parents to not do a search of her room for weapons. Any knives they found would be disposed of out of paranoia and misunderstanding, this especially would be gotten rid of… and possibly an alarm or two placed on the windows and door, so they'd know her movements, afraid she'd go out to get another. _Stupid 'rentals._

She hadn't wanted to just make do with one of the cheap, thin-bladed things soled at Wally-world. It was just a joke kit, but she had the spare cash, and the spare time, to conduct a real search. As such, the machete had taken longest to find and acquire… which led to it being her favorite piece of the collection. She'd liked the shorter kukri style machete, as opposed to the bolo, and it was easier to hide, and as such had had to track down a specialty knife shop to get one… which resulted in them asking about ID, and several interesting trips after that. Nataunia was still smiling fondly as she settled it buried in layers of clothes in her duffle, unwilling to give the thing up.

Still left in the suitcase were the sweats, a crowbar, empty canteen, soap, earplugs- she poked around in it, having almost forgotten everything she'd managed to squeeze into the case- a fire striker, compass, and binoculars. None of it really seemed worth taking or useful, and as she tugged and struggled with the zipper to get the suitcase closed again, the girl wondered if she'd ever really use anything from the kit. When a commercial that she knew the theme to came on, which couldn't help but annoy her, she left the suitcase half-zipped in a struggle to get the damn TV off before the Vonage song got stuck in her head again.

"Fucking advertising campaigns." The statement seemed to sum up the stupid commercial and its song, and she stubbornly hummed the Buffy theme so that she wouldn't have to hear the wordless tune for hours afterward. Nataunia didn't even bother struggling with the kit again, kicking its suitcase back under her bed as she considered if anything else was missing. She still had at least an hour, maybe just under, before her parents' driver came to pick her up, but if she got everything downstairs, she'd at least be able to have a leisurely sandwich before the long drive. "Coat, wallet, bags, pocket knife…" She paused in patting herself down, having slung on her leather jacket, and tried to see where she'd tossed her folding knife when undressing the last night. The thing lay inconspicuously on her computer chair, of all places, and she didn't bother wondering at why she'd put it there, instead digging behind some of her books for her stash. "… money, boots… good. Love you too, mummy and daddy, don't miss me too much."

The last bit had been purely sarcastic, and Nataunia tried not to let its pessimism sour her mood too much. They didn't want her around, and though they never really had, the fact that they were shoving her off on her aunt for a few months, instead of attempting to find her a different school, was proof that she'd moved out of the reminder-of-guilt category and into reminder-of-embarrassment. As she trudged out of her room, a little awkward from the weight of her duffle on one side and lack of anything to balance it on the other, she heard her cell phone beep as a reminder of what day it was. The girl left it behind, on her bed, without a second thought. She didn't need it; no one would call. At least she had the upcoming season of Buffy to look forward to. Sad that it was the only thing she could think of looking forward to, but she'd gotten used to that.

Nataunia's stomach lurched as she stared down the stairwell, and she felt her vision tilt a little, and she had time to wonder if maybe the milk in her cereal that morning had been bad after all, before the sudden dizzy spell got worse, and through the darkness clouding her vision, she saw the descending steps getting alarmingly close. The last thought in her mind, as everything went entirely black, was that since she hadn't managed to fall backwards, she was probably going to miss season seven.

* * *

Her return to consciousness, or some resemblance thereof, seemed to Nataunia at least much like falling through the rabbit hole had to have for Alice, if maybe in reverse. There was a faint ringing in her ears, everything still felt a bit as if it were spinning, and she could almost swear that her head was overstuffed with cotton. The first realization as she struggled to regain all of her senses and motor functions was that either she was about to experience a _lot_ of pain, because she'd survived the fall somehow, or the cloudy, disassociated sensation would continue because she'd survived, and was in the hospital again. When the grogginess persisted, but she felt the vague stirrings of being able to move, and maybe open her eyes, she guessed at the latter, which meant that, again, she'd likely be missing the upcoming season. Nurses never changed the TV to the channel she wanted…

_Chilly… and I'm on my back. Since when are hospitals chilly? Or… dark?_ She'd finally opened her eyes, and though less-than-natural darkness still edged her vision, it was still the dim, lack of light that nighttime without ambient, city light. Nataunia was well aware that though a hospital room might be chilly, especially if the nurses and orderlies weren't paying attention to her surrounding temperatures, but they were rarely dark. Too bright was much more usual, and as she started to push herself up, she felt her duffle by her leg, and the slight tug of a strap across her chest, meaning she was still wearing her sling bag even. And then her vision fully focused, and some of the fog lifted from her mind… and she realized that not only was she outside, but she was on a distinctly stone floor… in a tomb?

"What the _fuck_ am I doing outside… in a fucking tomb?" She growled out, lifting a hand to rub at her head where a tight feeling still persisted, but otherwise no fogginess and no pain. There was about enough light to suggest that a bright moon and stars were shining outside, casting enough through the open doorway and windows to see by. And as she stood, she saw a slight shadow move, suggesting company.

Nataunia's eyes widened as someone stepped forward, his face somewhat contorted, and a feral smile across his flat lips. "Well, it certainly seems as if you're about to be eaten, and that's what you're doing outside, in a fucking tomb." His line was, well, expected, and the glow of yellow eyes, fangs, and ridges likely would have terrified another victim. Instead, the girl's eyes widened even further, a broad smile slipping across her face in reaction.

"Oh, my God!" It was practically a squeal, and one in delighted surprise, as opposed to fear, stopping the be-ridged semblance of humanity in his tracks. She bounced a little, not reaching for her duffle yet, and stared at him excitedly. "Oh, my _God_! Am I really on set? How did they pull this off?! Why did they do this? Is it another guilt thing? Am I supposed to be playing along?" Her bouncing stopped and she froze, looking guilty herself, and glanced around for the cameras. "Is it a hidden set? The cameras are tucked away, right? Um… I'm supposed to be acting. Er… right… Ahh! A vampire! Someone help!" She smiled again after the abrupt 'appropriate' response, and raised her eyebrows at him, nodding almost discreetly. "Is that good?"

"What are you on, g…" the sentence was stopped, as it stared at her in shock and bemusement, and likely would have continued, had an arrow not pierced through its chest from behind, right where the heart should be. There was the briefest moment of pause as his appearance cracked with reaction, and then dust burst out, falling dramatically to the ground.

She stared in even more shock and surprise, not having expected the effects to be taking place in front of her. Had it been a hologram, or projection of some kind? Her eyes darted around again in search of cameras, and projectors this time, before turning to the entrance that the now 'dusted' creature had been again. "Yo B! I think this one had a meal lined up!" The call in so familiar of a voice broke off any comment that Nataunia might have made as a brunette came trotting in.

Her mouth dropped. _Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God!_ She didn't know what to do, frozen in place. Eliza Dushku, _the_ Eliza Dushku, was standing right in front of her, decked out as Faith, with a sultry, if somewhat bewildered smile on her face in reaction to the girl's blatant stare.

She felt everything spinning again, and figured that she was just fainting again, probably a completely normal way this time, as a blonde head peaked around the corner. Sarah Michelle Gellar too!

_**TBC**_


	2. Wings in the Looking Glass

She awoke startled as someone reached to the inside of her wrist, checking her pulse. Her sudden flailing sent the woman to the ground, stumbling back with a brief cry of alarm, and Nataunia nearly fell out of the chair she'd been lain in as well. Bright, fluorescent lights lit up the large room she was in, setting spots in her vision as she looked around, and she barely noticed the large collection of other chairs, or the nurse's station, instead focusing on where the words _**Sunnydale Emergency Ward**_ were emblazoned on the wall. She stood, eyes still wide and frightened, and nearly tripped over where her duffle had been set.

The nurse was trying to stand, berating her for startling the poor woman, but Nataunia didn't hear it. Panic was rushing through her, and she patted herself down quickly, finding the slight bulge of half of her savings in the inside pocket of her jacket, and the strap of the sling bag still across her. As she spun around again, ignoring the woman's attempts to check on her, and ask what was wrong, she realized that she was in a real hospital. "What is this? Who's doing this?" She spun to stare at the nurse, still panicking, and the woman stopped abruptly to stare at her in annoyance. "How did I get here?"

"I just found you after my rounds." The woman huffed, glowering, and folded her arms. "Someone lay you there while I was checking the other patients. A _fright_ you gave me. For all I knew, you could have been some dead body someone lay there."

"No, _here_. How did I get _here_?" Nataunia insisted, grabbing her duffle and ready to run. She shook her head. This couldn't be some prize or gift. Even if her parents had moved back to feeling guilty again, this was beyond their 'generosity'. On the set, on an episode maybe, but not this. "This is some kind of trick, isn't it? What did I ever do to you people?!"

"Miss, you need to calm down." The nurse reached for her again, and Nataunia struggled back, staring at her in distrust and hurt. "You may have hit your head… do you know what happened before you became unconscious, why you were?"

"How did I get here? Sunnydale doesn't exist." Nataunia snarled at her, and the woman suddenly got the look on her face that there probably was something seriously wrong with the girl. "What's going on?"

"It's okay, honey. Just calm down. Go ahead and have a seat. We'll figure this out." The nurse's voice dropped an octave, likely in an attempt to be more soothing, and the girl saw that expression come onto her face. She hadn't really realized before, in her panic, that it wasn't there in the first place, but it was an expression she'd grown so used to seeing that she'd recognize it anywhere. The woman didn't want to be around her, wanted to get away from her, and would likely pawn her company off on the first person she could manage.

Nataunia's eyes narrowed and she took another step back and away. "That's not a way for a nurse to look, even with whatever's happening." And with that she ran, using the woman's shock and sudden confusion at the change in topics to give herself extra time. By the time any of the orderlies had caught up with her, notified belatedly by the unfortunate woman, she was outside and still running.

It was almost morning, gauging by the soft light starting to color the horizon, and when she ran out of breath and endurance to keep going, Nataunia nearly collapsed in place. Where was she? What was going on that someone would turn the only thing she really had to look forward to, into a nightmare for her? Had they even known she'd leave her phone behind? _What did I ever do to these people? To my parents even, or __**her**__ even? Why?_

She didn't indulge in breaking into tears there. In truth, she likely wouldn't have done it even if she knew she was safe. She'd moved past crying over her situation long ago. Instead, she glared around, attempting to find the source of whatever had dropped her into this crazy joke they were playing on her. No one popped out of the shadows, she heard not laughter, and still she couldn't see the end to whatever set she was on. That left walking. Eventually, if she kept going, she'd come to the edge of where the prank was being played, if that was what it was instead of some screwy hallucination. Either that or they'd catch up with her and throw something else in her face.

By the time her legs were starting to seriously protest, and the fingers of the hand carrying her duffle going numb from clinging to its strap, she hadn't reached the edge of the town. She had, however, moved into a significantly seedier area, and saw the half-lit sign of a motel not too far away. She hadn't eaten, really, since the possibly questionable cereal back at home, and without food, and whatever else her body had undergone with all the passing out, she was starting to seriously drag. Food would have to wait, though. She'd gone without, out of stubbornness, before… she could stand to again. She'd take the night in the little dive, then keep going.

Nataunia ended up standing in front of the motel manager's office for several moments, in sheer shock, after 'acquiring' a room for herself. It looked _exactly_ like Faith's motel in the series. It was, well, kinda creepy, looking back on the events of the night, as she walked toward the beaten door that led to her room. She didn't know how they'd managed those effects with the supposed vampire, and either they were amazing look-alikes, or the real Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku were in on whatever this was. And, of course, what she'd seen of the town had seemed like those fleeting shots of the town's scenery in the show. No monster or vampire was waiting for her behind the door, nor a mysterious message explaining the rules of the game laying innocently on her bed, so all she could really do was check to make sure the sheets were clean before collapsing into real sleep. _Who'd have thought that passing out and walking around could be so exhausting?_

* * *

A shower had been necessary when she woke up, even if there weren't towels available in a place like this. She didn't trust how clean the sheets appeared to be, or the scent of dust and other things in the air, so she made use of her packed toiletries and designated two of her tanktops for drying off. Of course, that meant that her hair was still wet, and her skin still damp, when she'd gotten a new set of dry clothes on. She was still doing repeated rounds of combing, then squeezing and shaking out her hair, when someone knocked on the door.

Nataunia froze in place, staring at the closed blinds and curtains of the little window, and waited to see if she'd just misinterpreted banging from the next room over. Softly, the knock came again, and very distinctly a knock on the door. Nataunia scowled, muttering a quiet, almost fearful, "Fuck," before digging in her duffle for the machete. _Time for this to actually come in handy, I think._ She slowly crept to the door, dropping the sheath to the ground gently, and tried to peek through peep hole. A vaguely familiar hat was pretty much all she could see of the person, and she carefully flipped the lock in reaction.

That she answered the door, blade ready and pointing, startled the man on the other side. That the blade being ready meant it came through the cracked doorway first, pointing at him and barely not stabbing into him, made him take a step back. Nataunia stood there, glaring at him suspiciously, hair still damp, kukri machete in hand, and couldn't quite believe who had come calling. "Holy fuck."

"Literally… and you seem to like that word a lot." He gave a skeptical, nervous laugh, and raised his hands slowly in an almost placating manner. "Mind putting that overgrown butter knife down?"

"You're Whistler." She said, in still standing there with the weapon pointed, but her voice carried disbelief. He nodded, gesturing again at the blade, and she slowly backed up, drawing it to the side instead of putting it down. "As in… Whistler. You were there for what, two episodes? Why the fuck are you in on this shit?"

"Yeah, messenger of the Powers and all that. I still don't like that whole, you holding a knife thing." He offered, sitting on the still-mussed bed, and looking at her skeptically. She simply continued to stare at him, her grip tightening slightly, and he sighs, shaking his head. "Bad as Buffy, you know. At least there's no imagery. Sorry about the vampire, by the way. Bad drop, bad drop. Had a talk with your Mallak for leaving you there."

"Firstly," Nataunia said, closing the door belatedly and approaching to gesture with the machete, "what the fuck is going on? Secondly: What the hell is a Mallak, and why do I have one?"

"Mallak. They're kinda like angels… almost." He shrugged. "They work for the Powers, you know. Those humans… they got it mixed up. Called 'em _malakhim_ or something like that. They do the work when the Powers need something done about mortals… or people like me… or other things. Yours was supposed to drop you where the Slayers could find you… it just didn't notice the vampire nearby when it did. But, it's dust, you're lacking in nasty vampire-bites, so we're peachy."

"Seriously… what the fuck?" She looked even more skeptical this time, and certainly more confused, but his babble had made her stance relax slightly, and the blade had been lowered to her side as she stared at him.

"Yeah, seriously." He laughed and leaned back. "Nice digs. You know, that butter knife would'a scared me more if I were alive, but hey, do what you can, right? So ease up with the thing swinging around, okay? I got some things to talk to you about."

"First thing… you're supposed to be an _immortal_ demon that does the balance shit." She growled, turning to fetch the sheath and glare at him as she put the weapon away. He smirked at her. "Also, you haven't told me what the hell is going on."

"Yay, new swear words. I'm so proud." He joked, still smirking. "Just because Mr. Whedon decided to write it, doesn't make it true here, honey. You ready to listen yet? At least you smell better than the last shmuck I had to bring into the Slayer's life."

"A Slayer's life." She corrected absently, sitting at the head of the bed, sheathed blade still in hand, and glaring at him. He turned to look at her as she made herself mostly comfortable, and chuckled at her expression. "There's two now, whatever's going on."

"Right. You're gonna be good at this." He shook his head and shrugged. "You know who I am, right? Whistler. Supposed balance-keeping demon. Demon's right, alive isn't, immortal wasn't. No more immortal than vampires, anyway. Got in the way of something by accident, ended up with a soul that hadn't earned its way either direction. So here you see me, still working that balance act. You, missy, are special though. Caught _attention_ when you were born, you did. On both sides, actually. That's why things went to high hell for you I guess. Let's just say that if that vampire had made a meal of you, he'd have gotten VIP seating in the apocalypse."

"Right." She snorted, and abruptly kicked out to hit him in the leg, and possibly force him off of her temporary bed. Her eyes widened as her heel went through his knee, and he smacked her ankle for the effort. She'd actually felt the hit, light though it was, even after seeing her foot go through him.

"I told you, I died." He shook his head and rolled his eyes, muttering about stupid girls not paying attention. "Nataunia, this ain't some fangirl's nightmare, eh. This is real. You're not in Kansas anymore… or rather, your own reality. I don't think you were ever in Kansas in the first place."

"Holy shit." She stammered, eyes widened again and looking more freaked out than anything else. He nodded, rolling his eyes, as he agreed with that statement. "You're… I'm… holy shit."

"I'd say that's accurate, yeah. Told you that already." He laughed. "Listen, you've been living in the wrong place, girl. And by wrong, I don't mean you were really meant to be a California girl all along. Something happened, a glitch in the works, and you ended up smack dab in a world you don't belong. You were never meant to live in that reality, Nataunia, not a part of it. They know you never felt right there, and I know from watching you last night that you didn't trust anyone there to not royally fuck you over."

"The hell…" She growled at him.

"Admit it kid, you know you didn't belong there." He shrugged casually. "You're spirit, girl, it's unique. We don't have a lot of the type, anywhere, and yours is one of a kind. You wound up with bad luck, got pawned off somewhere that didn't want you, even the world itself. Your vibe, it's enough to put people off there, how different it is from that world… and you know you were miserable. Admit it kid, you weren't much longer there, miserable as you were. Damn lucky we sent someone along when we did the first time."

"Shut up." She was growling at him again, and felt an odd tingle along her shoulders and hands at the urge to hit him again. He looked only briefly alarmed before his casual, joking demeanor returned.

"They wanted you to get all healed up and healthy again, and just had t' wait for a good and proper… convenient time to make a grab at you." Whistler yawned. "You were meant to be here all along, as things go. Place with magic, place with where people with power belong. All packed up like you were, handy time to swap you over here. No worries about your other-parents. Little though they'd like as care, we left a note on your old bed about running off to find a place to 'belong'. Way things were going, they won't mind."

"So what, it's just some blip on the radar that I was in an entire reality I didn't belong to?" She asked, half incredulous, half furious.

"Mistakes happen kid." He sighed, looking uncomfortable at being called on the 'mistake'. "Listen… we… uh… we pulled you here cause you'd be of use to the Slayers. Someone like you… you got power. Power that'll help even the scales, as time goes by. We got some instructions, and some orders, things you need to know." Her frown increased as he spoke, incredulousness ebbing as talk of orders came. "It's mostly… we want you to help the Slayers, learn from the witch. Power like yours goes unchecked, could hurt you… or even draw something to you that'll do that job nice and dead for you. Dangerous to help them, but more so to wander around on your own."

"I've… really got power, then?" She asked, pushing away her anger at the pain of her life being caused by some stupid mistake of birth, at the hurt of the truth that no one would mind her suddenly being gone there. She had to concentrate on something else, something better, it was how she'd always coped. "I mean… I could actually… what kind of…"

"So shocked your stammering. Go Whistler." He chuckled. "You felt it just then, didn't you? The power, when you got angry. It's your spirit, girl, your soul. It's not human, much as the case that holds it is, or looks… or whatever." Her eyebrows rose. "When you were little, you pushed against that buffer we gave you so you could survive there. The buffer made you feel more like you belonged to people… but you could feel something else inside that buffer. You could feel, when you got excited, or angry…"

"Wings." She finished for him, her voice awed, and he nodded.

"Wings, and claws… and a tail, kinky bit that is." Whistler winked at her, and she blushed. "Can't tell you right what that is, not my place, not my knowledge, but that spirit isn't human, and it's got power that it feeds through you. More you pushed at that power, that feeling, more it cracked the buffer. Things got bad for you… gradually, but they got bad. You're coming into it fully now. Power ascension, and I don't mean the grody kind the old Mayor went through. It's when your power matures, and can only grow more through effort and training… yours is on your eighteenth. Up to you to get training to keep it in check… we're just pushing you to train with the Witch."

"… Willow?" Her voice squeaked, and her cheeks darkened again. They not only wanted her to help the Scoobies… they actually wanted her to train with them, be with them? The thought excited and frightened her. The _real_ Slayers and Willow, and Xander, and everyone. Not the actors, but the real people. "The… Willow?"

"Yeah. Miss Witch." He shook his head. "We know it won't be all sunshine and flowers, trying to get hooked up with them, and you need time to deal. Month of stay is paid for here, since you decided it was a good place to stop." His expression told of how skeptical he was of that decision. "Also have transportation for you. Not much but, hey, saw you walking around all vulnerable last night, figured we had to do something about that. You'll be able to ride it, made sure of it, but… well… wouldn't trust other people to try without you driving, okay? Here, safety first." He reached down, to where she was sure there hadn't been anything before, and came back up with a helmet.

"A… you lot are giving me a… motorcycle?" She stared at the helmet in her hands, and then at him. It certainly felt real, and she had been sure there was nothing like it in the room before. "I…"

"The other thing is… well… we don't want you back in the old place, not with the use you can be here, not with the misery it was for you there… it'd be bad all around if you did." He shook his head. "Not sure if they'd allow it to happen, even. Your job, pretty much, is not to tell them where you're from. According to the license wedged in the helmet, you were in an orphanage a few cities away when you got it. That's all that group you're so fond of really needs to know. Slayer… blonde one at least… she's stubborn about _right_ that she'd think sending you 'home' would be the only logical reaction, nevermind that you don't belong there."

"Right…" it sounded even more skeptical than she felt, and as he winked and wished her luck, she was forced to watch him simply… disappear in front of her.

_Sunnydale. I'm… I'm in the __**real**__ Sunnydale. I'm going to meet the __**real**__ Buffy and Faith and Willow and everyone…_ Her mind was whirling around with that knowledge, and she simply sat there, stunned, as she pushed the hurt feelings about her past away. _I'm… not going to be scorned by __**everyone**__ simply because I exist here._ Sadly, it was that thought, that solidified the small smile on her face, and she glanced down to find the driver's license tucked into the visor of the helmet. On it was a sticky note with one last instruction, "Learn to make the wings real… make them come out."

The note she crumpled and tossed away, tucking the license into her pocket without much thought, and Nataunia sat contemplating the helmet, and her new fate. Fleeting memories danced through her mind, of her hidden in her room imagining, or perhaps only thinking it was her imagination, pushing at the crackling, static-like feeling of wings extending from her back, and claws on her fingers. Lifting a hand, and keeping in mind where she was, that she belonged her, Nataunia looked hard at her fingers. And, remembering, if only barely, how it felt to push at that strange feeling, she concentrated.

She almost thought she saw blue-white energy starting to crackle there, almost thought she felt a stinging, burning sensation to accompany it, but her concentration broke at a loud rumble of protest from her stomach. It had been a day, possibly longer, since she'd eaten. Likely, considering that magic was supposed to take energy and personal effort, she needed to eat before she made any major tries. "Right Nataunia, make yourself pass out _again_. That's smart." She sighed and rolled her eyes at herself. She had money, and a free room apparently, as well as something to ride in her search for food. Whatever this whole thing was, be it a dream, a trick, or real, it would have to wait.

At least her hair had dried, kind of, in their talk. Nataunia shuffled through her used clothes, digging out the boots she'd been wearing, and tossed the wet shirts she'd used to dry off on the sink. Her sling bag she emptied into her duffle, hiding that away under the bed. The bag would do for holding a hair-dryer, and possibly a towel, for while she was playing motel-resident. Those, and anything else she thought of, could be gotten after she'd fed the growling pit that had replaced her stomach. When she'd stuffed half of her money, a brush, and hair tie, into the sling bag, and the other half of her money into one of the buttoned side-pockets of her pants, she felt herself ready to face whatever the town decided to throw at her. The folding knife tucked into the other side pocket probably helped with the feeling.

Outside of the room, sitting innocently in a parking space, was a strange little hybrid bike. It was small, at least for a motorcycle, and looked something akin to a black dirt bike with a bigger engine, and sitting on its leather seat were a pair of keys. It hadn't been tampered with, and despite the presence of others in the parking lot, no one had stolen it. The keys she added to the ring holding her motel room's key, and she dutifully ignored the fuzzy, pink rabbit's foot that was its keychain. That would be tossed out later. Or maybe just at Anya, if she got to meet her too.

Riding the bike wasn't difficult really. She found herself making adjustments, shifting, and riding with almost second nature, and decided against trying tricks she'd seen in movies simply because she didn't want to press her luck. Food was acquired at a drive through, which she had found only after stubbornly passing Doublemeat… twice. No way was she even thinking about eating there. She spent the rest of the day innocently exploring, and subsequently getting lost, in the city-like town. Much to her surprise, the high school was still standing, if looking significantly different than she remembered it in the show. She even saw the Espresso Pump and UC Sunnydale, though she ignored the urge to get a drink at the first, fearing that she'd see part of the group before she was ready.

She was ready to go back to the motel, now in possession of a hair dryer and towel, by the time it was starting to get into evening. She even picked up a burger on the way, determined to try again at that whole wings and claws thing, and not let hunger get in the way. If she couldn't prove to herself that she had power in need of training, she knew that she'd have hard luck convincing Willow.

* * *

"Holy fuck…" it was a whisper; she feared anything louder would break her concentration, and blow away the progress she'd made. It had started out as an effort to affirm to herself that, yes, she wasn't just an ordinary human… that she was what Whistler had said. That, as much as everything else she'd seen, would prove to her that this was all real. Now, four days later, it was more to gain headway on her own, and stall the meeting with the Slayers. Before her, she could see the blue-white crackling energy in the distinct shape of large, almost demonic claws, a prickling, stretched sensation on her fingers accompanying them. The same feeling spanned from her shoulders down her back a bit, and at her tailbone, as evidence that she sported large wings and a long tail as well. It was the longest she'd managed so far, almost five minutes now, and as the crackling energy started to fade, she glanced behind her at the semblance of draconic wings and slithering tail that were starting to fade too.

Five full minutes, and then they faded. The tingling sensation remained for only seconds after it, making her want to wriggle in place as it trickled down her back, but she had a feeling that was as much as she'd manage without someone to teach her, at least in any decent amount of time. She wasn't going to manage stalling much longer. Sighing, and dismissing the urge to wriggle again as the tingling feeling faded away as well, she stood, ready to start looking for a way to greet the Slayers, and their friends. It was strange, really, the differences she'd noticed in those days she'd taken. The school still stood, and looked like it had just started the school year in the last day or two. It was certainly a different building design too. As well… Faith was there. The last she knew, Faith had been in jail, in LA.

Nataunia's thoughts staggered to a halt as something light landed on her head, then fluttered down, touching on her shoulder and arm before drifting to her feet. The little paper had a strange, almost parchment-like quality to it, and as she bent, she wondered where it had come from. Lettering on it glittered and shone gold, and she had to blink a bit, turning the page this way and that to catch the light properly but not shine too much to be read. _To apologize for the vampire. Look at the bed, they won't be there for long._

She spun, startled, at the message and stared at what was undeniably there, on the messy bed. Two tablets… actual, stone tablets… rested against her pillow. She didn't quite know what to make of it, except that it had to either be an archaic form of message from above… or perhaps Whistler's idea of a joke. The writing was significantly easier to read on them, without the trouble of it shining and needing different angles, and looked to have been there as the rock formed, instead of being chiseled. It detailed, of all things, not sins or rules, but rather small bits of information that she'd been wondering at. According to the heavy, impractical things, the school had been rebuilt, with the Principal's office over the hellmouth, instead of the library. Supposedly the principal, one Mr. Wood, was the son of a previous Slayer, and was a sketchy ally of the Slayers, though not a friend. He'd tried to kill Spike over the summer, in vengeance for his mother apparently. Spike was no longer around, not because of that, but from sacrificing himself to save Dawn from a demon. Faith, apparently, had been broken out to save Angel, and the vampire's allies hacked the system to have her legally out on bail. She now lived with the Sunnydale crew, attempting to make up for her previous mistakes. Willow had also, apparently, been away in England, learning control, and was back too.

The second tablet detailed, of all things, information about the past, differences from the show in her old home. The first it listed, which seemed the least important, was that though Angel tried to kill himself on the Christmas of Buffy's senior year, he hadn't been haunted by the First, whatever that was. She only vaguely remembered the episode herself, and her frustration that Buffy had left both her mother and Faith behind for the stupid vampire. The second was that though Faith had indeed joined the Mayor, in fear and stubborn reaction to her inadvertent killing of Finch, she'd refused to hurt the Scoobies… other than Wesley, who'd set the Watchers' dogs on her. It had been information she fed them, at the last, that had helped to defeat the ascended demon. After that, she'd run to LA, and eventually turned herself into the police when Angel had finally managed to get through to her. The fourth was that, though Xander and Anya had a dysfunctional, but existent relationship, Anya remained a vengeance demon.

She stared at the heavy, stone tablets for a moment, after reading the information, and frowned. Seriously? That was what they'd gone to the trouble of special, miracle-like effects for? She appreciated the information, and it resulted in slightly less confusion for her on the part of the school and Faith's presence, but mostly the differences were inconsequential, as she'd have to pretend to not know all of it anyway. Letting out a sigh, she patted the stones gently and shook her head. "Well… um… thanks though, I guess. It was nice to know?" And then the tablets and the note disappeared, much like Whistler had when his own message and information had been imparted.

It was later into the afternoon, with the sun starting to set even, but she hadn't had anything for dinner yet, and knew from an experience a day or so ago that too much effort with that power of hers without food had a tendency toward feeling woozy, and weak, and almost throwing up. She had no intention of tearing up her esophagus like that, so though she disliked the idea of going out at night in Sunnydale, she also had a feeling she'd be safer than a poor delivery boy that didn't know what was out there. As such, that meant she was going out for dinner, instead of ordering in.

It still came as a slight surprise to her that no one ever attempted to tamper with her bike, more so than that she hadn't found a gas tank on it. It was a gift from the powers, which meant that its odd machinery was something she'd never understand, and didn't try to. Nevertheless, this wasn't the safest area of Sunnydale, she was sure of that, and yet no one had attempted to steal it, or its parts… at least not that she could ever tell.

"You, my friend, are a mystery and enigma, but you're also the coolest thing I've ever owned… if that's what you can call our relationship." Nataunia murmured to the thing, secure in her safety while on it though she never understood that feeling either, and patted first the cover for the engine, then the knife in her pocket. As it started to life, she was comforted even more by the bass purr the engine made when it ran. "Eventually I'll think of a name suitably magical for you." Strangely enough, the purr of the engine increased in intensity for a moment, before settling again, and she thought briefly that it had revved itself in response to her comment. Another oddity of the bike, she supposed. "Leave it to Whistler to give me a bike that has an actual personality. Only in the Buffyverse." She smiled and shook her head, then turned and spun off to find herself a pizza shop. She'd know Sunnydale by heart, simply from getting lost, eventually.

**TBC**


	3. Searching for a Mentor

She'd been able to keep in mind where the pizza shop was pretty easily. It was the closest provider of cheap food to the motel, which meant that she passed it whenever she went anywhere. She'd had a single slice before, though, and it was surprisingly good for such a dive. She tried not to think about what the health standards had to be, and had gotten as advice from another patron of the place that she _only_ wanted to order pizza and soda. Considering that there were the typical options of breadsticks, wings, and even cinnamon buns as dessert on the menu, she had decided not to wonder at what was wrong with everything else, since the pizza was consumable… mostly.

"M'kay… the Summers live on Revello… how the hell do I get to Revello?" She grumbled, poking absently at the crust of the pie she'd gotten. It was better to think about what she had to do than to have to think about the possible sanitary conditions or lack-there-of of the kitchens… or even worse, what magical and Sunnyhell-like things they might be doing to the food that wasn't pizza. "To find a Summers, I need Revello… fuck what was the address… sixteen-something…"

That was strange too. She couldn't quite remember the address, which she was fairly sure she would have been able to do before being dropped into the middle of Sunnydale. For the moment, she was simply hoping that it was a product of landing badly when being dropped, literally, into the cemetery, or from fainting a few times maybe. "You mean Dawn?" The question surprised her out of her thoughts, and she turned, mid-chew, to look over her shoulder at a greasy-looking punk-boy that was only a booth away. His friend looked very stereotype nerd to her, which was surprising simply for the fact that she had been pretty certain that the town was cliquish to an extreme.

"Dawn… right, sure." She smiled nervously and swallowed hard to make sure she wasn't spewing masticated pizza everywhere. "You're friends with her? I need to find her house."

"She's in my Lit class." He smiled broadly, and she got a sudden whiff of his breath, nearly making her gag. "Um, it's in my student directory or something I think… er… I could… help you find it." The suggestive tone creeping into his voice disturbed her, and Nataunia thought rapidly to attempt to dissuade him.

"Er… I don't need that, really. Thanks though. I know she lives of Revello Dr. Sixteen-something… 1630 I think? Maybe… sixteen-thirty-or-something. I'm just kinda new to the area and don't know which way to go to get there."

"Oh." He deflated slightly, and she couldn't tell if his spiked hair had actually wilted from disappointment, or possibly his breath, or if she was imagining it. Any of the three were possible, considering it was a hellmouth. She just hoped that he wasn't actually some bad-breathed demon and the spiked hair was head-spikes and she'd told him where they lived. "Um, I can draw you a map on a napkin! And, um, maybe put my number on the other side."

"Right…" She smiled and reached for both one of the napkins on her table, and another slice of the pizza, turning to hand him the flimsy paper as she stuffed more food into her mouth. She'd have to duck out as soon as she had the 'map' if she planned on actually learning how to get there before the sun rose. She needed like… MapQuest permanently linked into her brain. She watched as the boy drew out a sketchy and somewhat dubious map, much to the amusement of his nerdy friend, and tried not to bounce in place too impatiently. "So… um… what're you two boys doing here?"

"Jack lives a couple blocks from here. I was tutoring him, so he decided to treat me to dinner." The nerdy boy said with a soft blush, smiling, though his shy eyes were still turned mostly to the greasy punk boy. Nataunia tried not to grin in a goofy manner at the little gay-boy, glancing away before she did and noticing the wings on the table next to the nerd. "I'm Clyde."

"Oi… no no no no." She hopped out of the booth and grabbed the basket of wings, quickly tossing them in a nearby trashbin, much to the confusion of the boys. Absently, she grabbed her jacket too, and swung the remaining half of her pepperoni pie to their table before she took the napkin. "Pizza only boys. Gotta jet."

She was just starting up the bike, glancing curiously at the napkin map, when she saw the spiky-haired head of 'Jack' pop out of the door. "Hey! What's your name, hot-stuff?!" Her head shot up and she frowned at him, sliding the helmet on and spinning the bike so she didn't have to linger. "Wait!"

"Call me Taunie, and take my advice about the food!" She yelled back, and quickly sped off before he could call her hot-stuff again. _Note to self, cannot punch the greasy punk boy with bad breath for calling me hot-stuff. I'd probably get his stink on me._ It was a snippy, bitch-like thought, but she was pretty sure that she'd have to keep that thought memorized if she encountered him again, and he started hitting on her. _Which is possible if he lives close enough to the motel that he considers the pizza parlor a suitable place for his tutor's dinner._

By the time she'd actually found Revello, and the humble Summers residency, it was a goodly portion through the night. Twice the napkin had flown out of her hand, and she'd gotten lost three or four times when finding her way back to where she'd been when it flew away. When she was finally sitting on the bike, looking down the street at the house, it was late enough that the two Slayers looked to be getting in from whatever patrol they'd taken. It was kind of shocking, how much like the show the house looked, and she had to wonder if it had been created in her world simply to make transition, and acceptance, easier for her. _But that would imply that I'm important enough for the Powers to interfere like that… which hello, I'm not. I'm unimportant enough that the mistaken of being born in the wrong world went unfixed for almost eighteen years._

* * *

"Yo… Dawn…" the girl tried her hardest to ignore, very thoroughly, the gross boy that sat behind her. It was bad enough that he was back there every class, breathing his nasty breath in her direction, she was not going to turn around and give him the impression that they were friends. "Dawn! Come-on, girl. Hello, I know you can hear me. What's up with the hottie? She a friend of the family or something?"

She sighed, and huffed indignantly, turning the glare at him. "I don't know what you're talking about. Leave me alone." Dawn turned back to the front, trying to ignore him, and looked at the half-assed attempt at dragging on the lesson the teacher was making. The old man had seemed distracted the entire class, which wasn't making it easy to feign interest herself.

"The upperclassman, Taunie. She looked like an upperclassman." The greaseball continued, nudging her, and Dawn quickly glanced around in embarrassment. It didn't look like anyone else had noticed him talking to her. "You know… hot, five-something tall, wavy brown hair… or was it red… it kinda looked brown-red… would you call that brown or red…" She continued trying to ignore him, staring imploringly at the clock. "She was pierced too. Eyebrow, and I think I saw a tongue piercing… you know what that kinda girl is like…" Dawn could only roll her eyes, and then rush to get everything together and then get out when the bell finally rang. "Damn, you're-fucking-welcome for telling her how to get to your place. Shit, I feel appreciated."

She almost stumbled, stopping quickly enough to catch that, and then turned to stare at him. "Who?"

"Taunie… the hot upperclassman-looking chick… I met her at the pizza place, gave her directions. You owe me, man, for drawing out the map for her. Should totally hook me up with her, biker chicks rock…" He was babbling, but Dawn's eyes widened and she quickly ran off to find her sister, leaving behind a confused and crudely gesturing stank-breath-boy behind.

"Buffy!" Dawn yelped as she nearly collided with her blonde older sister at the office, and struggled to not drop everything in the process. The Slayer, of course, managed to keep the papers and folders in her hands from slipping without much effort. "This guy, in class…" The somewhat gawky teen began, pulling her sister back into the cubicle and going on with wide eyes. "… there was a girl and a pizza place and he said she was looking for me and gave her directions to our house and it was probably last night because he's always asking me to go to that grease-pit over toward the skeezy end of town with him and she knows where we live now!"

"Wow, okay, freaked out much? Deep breath and slow down." Buffy said, looking at her in an amused and skeptical manner. "Try that one more time."

Dawn huffed and glared at her, irritated that Buffy hadn't understood the first time around, and already knowing from the expression that her sister doubted that it was really worth the worry. "This gross guy in my English class sits behind me. He's always asking me to go out to this grease-pit pizza place in the skeezy end of town with he and his tutor." She sneered and shivered at the mere thought. "He was all up behind me in class today and asking about this girl, or whatever, that he met there last night. She was asking about me and he gave her directions to our house, and drew out a map for her." Dawn frowned at the blonde, noting how Buffy barely looked concerned.

"Did he tell you anything else about her? You asked, right?" Buffy asked, re-shuffling her papers and folders, ready to go on about her business. Dawn huffed again, but blushed slightly.

"He kept calling her hot and a hottie, and said she's got long brown-red hair, or red-brown, or whatever. He babbled about that a lot." She rolled her eyes, then blushed again. "And then stuff about her eyebrow and tongue piercing… but he said she looked like an upperclassman and rode a motorcycle, and called her Taunie."

"Hm… okay, I'll keep an eye out." Buffy said, and yawned as she checked the time. "Go on to class, I'll see you at home for weapons work."

"Geeze." Dawn huffed and spun, starting to storm out of the offices. "Thanks for the tip, Dawn. You were right to be concerned, Dawn. Good job, Dawn. It's not like you're the Slayer or anything, or like a Hell-god tried to use me to open a portal before. No… nothing like that." Buffy watched her moody sister rant to herself as she left the office, and simply shook her head, wondering if she was that dramatic at Dawn's age.

* * *

As far as Nataunia had been able to determine, it was the beginning of the school year, possibly only a week or so in, and she'd easily enough managed to figure out what day of the week it was. That of course, led her to knowing that, whatever else the residents of the Slayer household were doing, they wouldn't be away from the schools for a while. Buffy and Dawn would be at the new highschool, and Willow would be… wherever it was that Willow went during the day. Considering that she'd gone off to England, and so much had happened in their lives, the redhead probably wasn't still attending UC Sunnydale. Faith, of course, was probably sleeping or loitering about the house, unless she'd found herself a job.

She'd slept in, showered and eaten, taken her time moving around, and even driven by the high school once or twice, and it was still a little early for her to try going over to the house. She knew that she'd have to soon, otherwise they'd hear about her looking for them from Dawn's classmate and come looking for her, but she had no intention of being there, waiting for them, like some kind of stalker, when they got home. It left her with little to do to distract herself from nerves, and too much to worry about. She wound up just wandering around town for a while, the bike purring gently beneath her, before finally stopping at the Espresso Pump. She'd always wanted to get something there, and hadn't gone at all while preparing herself for fear of running into the Slayerettes too soon.

"… and so B's like, **bam** and I'm like **boom**, and then he goes flying, full-on head-over-heels, into the tree. Then, the only thing he says with the dumbest expression I've ever seen on a vamp… and I've seen some stupid looks… is 'Well that was unexpected', and then poof, he's dust buster chow." The conversation slowly filtered into Nataunia's awareness as she sipped on a random concoction of sugar, milk, and espresso that she'd let the barista pick for her. The voice was undeniable, and even at that, the subject matter would have been a give away. She heard two bodies slide into the booth behind her, and her eyes stayed wide for a moment, not fully believing that they were there. "… dust buster chow. I've been hangin' around B way too much lately. Next thing ya know I'm gonna say things 'r givin' me the 'wiggins' or something like that."

"Didn't think you'd be complaining, Faith." It was Willow's voice, and Nataunia nearly choked on her drink. She couldn't make herself move, or decide if she wanted to run, or if she wanted to try to approach them there, in public. "Besides, Faith, you already told this story to me, this morning."

"But you only heard half of it, Red, and you didn't see his face. It was wicked the way B slammed him that first one." She heard Faith behind her wiggling around, probably telling the story animatedly. "It was all Kodak-moment-like." Nataunia had almost decided to stand up and casually approach, using their obvious disregard for anyone overhearing the subject of their conversation as a way to introduce herself, but she heard the slight thud of quickly approaching feet, and Faith's greeting. "Hey Squirt."

"Hi Faith! Hey Willow." Dawn's cheery voice filtered in too, and Nataunia spared a glance over her shoulder at them, watching the teen slide into the booth next to Willow excitedly, her gaze obviously on Faith. "You guys talking cool slaying stuff?"

"No, just the same story as this morning." Willow opined before Faith could get started again, and Dawn gave a slight giggle. Nataunia took that moment to start getting her things together, knowing that she was either going to be able to say something instead of passing, or have to get out while she still could. They'd notice her staring eventually. "How was school, Dawnie?"

"Eugh! Nasty." The reaction was almost unexpected, and made both of the other women at her table laugh. "There was this gross, skeezy guy that sits behind me in English today. He keeps asking me out and, blegh, he totally freaked me out today. Buffy was, like, _no_ help either." Nataunia hurried her gathering of bag and jacket, trying to gulp down the rest of her drink before she could slip out of her booth. "He started babbling about this 'hot girl' that he met at some pizza place last night that was asking around about me… he gave her directions on how to get to the house and everything… and then he's all gesturing nasty stuff and breathing on me. His breath is like sewage. Like, halitosis central."

Nataunia was making her quick way past, trying not to look in their direction so that the girl couldn't get a good look at her, and possibly make the connection. She didn't notice Dawn's voice drifting off just slightly, or that the girl watched her as she made a hasty exit. "Woo, Dawn! You just checked that girl out!"

"What? No I didn't! I wouldn't… I mean I don't… I mean you…" Dawn babbled, turning bright red and sputtering in the face of Faith's good-natured laughter.

"Oh, our little Squirt is growing up." Faith teased, wiping away a mock tear and sighing. She laughed again as Dawn wadded up a paper napkin and threw it at her. "It's okay, kid, I saw Red give her the once over too. Musta been wicked hot."

"Anyway," Willow interrupted, glaring as well and diverting the subject back to where it was supposed to be. "you were saying about that girl? He told her how to get to the house?"

"Yeah. I, like, tried to tell Buffy, but she just basically brushed me off, saying she'd keep an eye out. I mean, come on, that pizza place he keeps talking about is over in the grody end of town, and it was at night." Dawn huffed, rolling her eyes. "So she's all not caring when some girl in the bad end, at night, is asking around for me and gets directions to our house? I mean, I'd think that with both the Slayers there, and what we deal with every day, it'd be a bit more of a concern."

"I'm sure she'll get to the bottom of it, Dawn. She was probably just trying not to worry you." Willow comforted, patting her gently on the shoulder. "Right Faith?"

"Yeah Squirt, no sweat. We'll drop by Willy's tonight and see if there's anything or anyone new in town that'd be looking for you, or us through you." Faith smiled and gave her a thumbs up, wiggling her eyebrows. Dawn laughed lightly.

* * *

She'd driven around for a bit, partially to give them time to get home… and partially do to nerves, trying to psych herself up to actually going. She was almost sure that if Dawn hadn't shown up, she might have made an attempt there at the Espresso Pump. How successful the attempt would have been was up for debate, but Dawn had, of course, confirmed her worry that the guy from the pizza place had said something. When she finally made her way toward Revello Dr., complete with a few wrong turns and fretting about what she was supposed to say, she was sure that they had to have gotten home by then.

Nataunia had almost thought that the bike seemed quieter as she drove up to the house, the noise of the engine dampened slightly. As she parked at the curb, she rubbed over the cover in front of the seat, thanking it silently for if it really was quieter, instead of just her imagination. She left her helmet over the seat of the bike, trusting that whatever kept it safe in as screwed up of a neighborhood as the motel was in, would do the same now. The last thing she needed was to seem like some biker-demon come pounding on the door. She pulled her hair back into a tail as she walked to the front door, concerned about helmet hair, and fidgeted several times as she stood there, before fussing with the ponytail again.

Several minutes later she was still staring at the door to 1630 Revello Dr, debating yet again on if she was ready to knock. She'd been there for ten minutes, readjusted her hair three times, and started back toward the bike twice… and she still hadn't made herself knock. _I can do this. I can do this! I can make myself knock on a door! I've survived nearly 18 years in an entire reality my existence was at odds with. Static-y wings can sprout from my fucking back. I've even finally made it to the Buffyverse… er, not that I was trying… but I did! I can knock on a door!_

When the door opened before her knuckles even made contact, though, the choice was taken out of her hands. Dawn stood on the other side, hand on the knob and turned to face the stairs. "I'm going over to Janice's before Buffy gets back, Willow!"

Nataunia's arm dropped and she stepped to the side, attempting to not look entirely awkward, and she just watched as the other teen turned and stumbled in a belated attempt to not walk into her. Dawn stared, in confused shock, as Willow's voice drifted down the stairs in answer. "You're the one what wanted to be involved, Dawn. That means training, which means you're stuck with waterguns and crossbows for now. You can't keep skipping training."

"H- hi." Dawn blushed lightly when Nataunia raised a curious eyebrow at the conversation, light glinting off of its piercing.

"Hey. Hm… now that's a combo there. Facing the Wicked Witch of the West soon, Dorothy?" She smirked and inwardly cheered at the sudden appearance of autopilot. She hadn't even known what was going to come out when she opened her mouth. Dawn's blush deepened, but she smiled. "So you must be Dawn Summers. I'm looking for a cute hacker-witch, goes by the name Willow Rosenberg."

The girl's smile fell briefly, before her eyes widened and she practically bounced in place, processing what Nataunia had just said. "Can I be there when you say that to her? I wanna see her face!"

Nataunia winked, and then tried not to look nervous as they heard footsteps descending the stairs. "Dawn?" The teenager's eyes practically glittered with mischief as she winked back, and the stepped onto the porch to give Willow room in the doorway. "Hello…" The redhead, though she didn't seem hostile, was certainly less friendly in her greeting.

"Hey, look what I found when I opened the door. She said," Dawn paused to glance between the two with a smile, making Nataunia unsure of if she should run, again. "that she's looking for the cute hacker-witch that goes by the name Willow Rosenberg."

Nataunia remained quiet, watching as the redhead blushed, and waited for some kind of reaction. Willow recovered quickly, though the blush remained, and glanced down the walk to where the bike still stood. "Hm. I thought you'd be looking for Dawn. You're… Taunie, right?"

Dawn's expression spasmed as she made the belated connection, turning to look quickly at the bike, then back at the newcomer, and Nataunia suppressed a nervous giggle. "Sort of. There was this rumor that said that you lived at the Summers residency… and hey, lookie here, there you stand… and this is the Summers residence. Here I've found you, so the rumor was right. Score one for the rumor mill." She pulled her babble to an abrupt halt, shaking her head. It seemed the autopilot was either malfunctioning, or it had gone on vacation. "Sorry. Yeah, this is be being nervous. I babble; people just normally don't care enough to notice. Can we pretend that I'm not dorking out right now?" _Right… what was that? Abrupt halt? More like a speed bump. Great fucking first impression. At least I didn't faint._

The both of them looked at her in surprise for a moment before Willow turned patiently to Dawn. "Why don't you go on to Janice's? I'll tell Buffy where you are when she gets home." The teen looked between them, then huffed and stormed away, grumbling to herself about missing the interesting things, and it left the pair of them alone on the Summers' porch. "Well… you certainly feel powerful."

"I do? I mean of course I do. I mean I am! That's not what I mean." Nataunia groaned and reached up to rub the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes and missing the amused, almost sympathetic look on the redhead's face. "Can we sit down? I'm not asking to come in, you don't even know be, but maybe it'd be easier if we sat down… or into the back yard… back yard is good because then people can't see my epic failure. I'm still dorking out, so please ignore the babble." She took a deep breath, and shook her head, trying to calm herself down. Then, she forced out the most charming smile she had at her disposal, one that _she_ had said almost made her not care that Nataunia's presence made her nauseous. The thought almost made the smile waver, but she pushed that back and away too, with the nervousness. "I'm sorry, hi. I came for your help." She breathed out again, grateful that she'd gotten those sentences out without babbling further. It had to be that she was actually talking to _the_ Willow contributing to the fangirl mode. "I do have power… yeah… or I'm told. I've got at least one strange ability and someone… I guess you could call him my… spirit guide?… sent me here, to you. I don't really know how to ask this other than… um… if you could please help me, and… train me? I know about the spooky things, the shit that goes bump in the night… and sometimes the daytime." She sighed and offered the smile again, hoping that Willow's silence was a good sign. The redhead was still blushing, though. "I mean, he… it… my guide… told me about the Slayers, and being here. I'm not afraid to fight. Well, I am, but I still will."

Willow was simply looking at her, and Nataunia had the unnerving fear that maybe the same sensation that had put people off in the other reality was starting again. Maybe Willow didn't trust her, simply because she _was_… or maybe the fact that getting directions from pizza boy had made her seem enough like a suspicious stalker that she was about to get turned into a rat. "Well you're nervous as well as powerful. And yes, you can come in. It's still daylight, so I doubt you're a vampire." Willow paused, moving inside and letting Nataunia enter behind her before closing the door. "But, I don't know if you're in the right place. I don't know that I'm qualified to…"

"Listen… I um… I know that you know what it's like to lose control." She babbled again, sitting and looking imploringly at Willow. The redhead looked shocked. "But, doesn't that mean that you're doubly careful? Wouldn't that mean that you know that strong power can't just go unchecked? I could try to train myself, yeah, but that would be dangerous… I know it'll be dangerous, what I can do. No one else can train me… I was sent to you, pointed in your direction for a reason. Please… just a chance maybe? I want to help. It's a good fight; I want in."

Willow sat down carefully, a little stunned at not only what the girl had said, but the last words. She just frowned a bit, staring at her, and Nataunia took a deep breath, kneeling in front of her almost in supplication. Before the redheaded witch could protest the action, the girl held up her hands in front of her own face, and concentrated, pushing as hard as she could, letting her mind grip that strange, _other_ part of her mind, and forcing it to manifest what she knew could be there. The tingling, almost tight, sensation that had grown barely familiar over the week started, and when her eyes opened, she saw the crackling energy that comprised what she could manage of her claws, and knew that the same thing was starting with her wings, and tail, as she continued to prod and push at that special part of her mind. Willow's eyes were huge.

"You can… um… touch it…" Nataunia huffed, feeling the effort of holding her concentration as well as communicating. As Willow leaned forward, tracing her fingers gently through the energy, Nataunia gulped, falling forward just slightly to lean on her hands and knees, holding tightly to her concentration as Willow felt through the manifested energy wings with wonder.

"Woah. Wicked. What'cha got there, Red?" Faith's voice trailed into the livingroom, and Nataunia had to clench her fists into the carpet to keep the manifestation alive. She felt another hand brush through, much less gently and more playfully, as Faith approached. "Hey, it's a kid! What the hell, Red? Hey kid, get up, come on… it's okay. Shit, is she okay, Red?"

"I'm fine." Nataunia gritted her teeth and finally let go of her concentration and hold on the energy, breathing out heavily and sitting back to see both of them looking at her in surprise and worry. Faith's brows narrowed slightly in recognition, and she could tell the dark-haired Slayer was trying to place from where. "I… Please, Willow."

"I don't know if I… I can't do that. I don't know how to teach you about…" Willow stalled, eyes wide with almost panic as she realized that it really was a genuine pupil that had come seeking her help. "I don't think that I can…"

"No one can… or I'm told I'm the only one. There is no teacher that won't be shooting from the hip…" She took a deep breath, the tingling feeling gone, finally, and an itching at her shoulder-blades that she attributed to the fact that both of them had been feeling through the crackling energy. "I'm supposed to… eventually they'll be real, and grow real. Full on flesh, not just energy. I… I was sent here."

"Come on Red. B says you're a bad ass wicca." Faith elbowed Willow playfully, and winked at Nataunia. "And she says she was sent to ya… wait, who sent you?"

"Her 'spirit guide'." Willow offered, still a little stunned. "I still don't know. You seem like a nice girl, but… well, this isn't even my house. I don't know what Buffy would say…"

"Say about what?" All three of them turned to see Buffy walking in, fluffing her hair a little and smiling cordially to the newcomer. "Who's bike is out front?"

"Um, mine. I can always come back again, if you need to think about it." Nataunia backed away, getting nervous again. She didn't know if she should squeal like the fangirl she was and ask for their autographs, or run, but she was fairly sure that if she didn't do either she was going to faint again.

"Buffy, this is Taunie. She was actually looking for me, not Dawn." Willow introduced, stalling a little. Nataunia almost corrected her, having given the guy that shortened version of her name as a precaution, but she stopped herself. It felt like a nickname, something she hadn't ever had before, and she liked the way it sounded coming from them. "She wants me to teach her magic."

"Oh. Cool." Buffy smiled brightly and waved. "Hi. I'm Buffy."

"Yeah…" Nataunia blushed again and looked around at all three of them. "I should give you some time to… um… think…"

"It's cool, Wills. You wanna have a little magic buddy, it's fine." Buffy stretched and started for the stairs. "I'm taking Dawn out for a jog before her training. It was nice to meet you, Taunie."

"Dawn went over to Janice's." Willow provided, still without giving an answer, or nodding for the girl to be able to go. "She'll probably be back earlier than usual, though, since Taunie got here just as she was leaving."

"The Espresso Pump!" Faith exclaimed suddenly, shocking them all and stopping Nataunia from where she was starting to edge toward the door. "You were the girl that Red and the Squirt were checking out."

"Excuse me?" Willow's eyes widened, and Nataunia blushed brightly.

"Um… thanks? I mean… heh… you're hot too?" She smiled at Willow jokingly, and tried to concentrate on that embarrassment, instead of the feeling that she was going to faint in their presence again. Willow was blushing now too, much to the amusement of the slayers. "Um… I guess I should thank you two Slayers, too. For saving my life and everything…" Buffy had been heading upstairs, and Faith laughing at Willow, but the statement distracted both of them. "I was looking around town, checking out the cemeteries so I could have a layout in my head if you lot let me help… and well I kinda tripped and hit my head. I woke up all woozy and it was nightfall. Next thing I knew, an arrow killed the vamp that was about to feed on me, and just as the two of you come in, I'm out again. When I came to I was in the hospital?"

"That was you?" Buffy's eyes were wide, and Willow stared at her. "You kept mumbling something about some girl named Eliza Dushku."

Nataunia only shrugged, suppressing her blush, and glanced at Willow. The wicca finally smiled indulgently and rolled her eyes. "I'll give it a try, for a little while. I don't know how much help I'll be with what you need, but I can try. How old are you anyway?"

"Um, almost eighteen. Thanks." She fidgeted a little, and then looked awkwardly at her new mentor. "Is this, like, a hugging situation or something? I don't really know the tutor-acquisition protocol."

"She's funny, Red." Faith laughed, winking and moved into the kitchen. "Nice meetin' ya, Taunie-girl!"

"I think you staying for dinner so we can get to know each other is all that's necessary." Willow blushed and smiled. "I've never had an apprentice either. I've done spells with people before, and um… well spells… but we won't be doing those spells… and this is new to me too. Change of subject! Are you in school still?" Willow was still red, significantly more so, as she sat down on the couch again, and gestured for Nataunia to take a seat.

"Nope… well, no, not really." She looked up in thought, frowning. "Not exactly." Willow looked at her reproachfully. "Some, um, things happened that I'm not really comfortable talking about. It turns out that it's, inadvertently, because of what I am, or will be. I… well I never finished."

Willow looked at her a bit more softly now, seeming to sympathize a little. "Well, I'm sorry for whatever it was. As you mentioned knowing before," and here the redhead smirked a bit, "I'm somewhat of a computer-fiend. I'll work a little techno-magic and get you enrolled in Sunnydale High. I don't take high-school dropouts as apprentices." Nataunia blushed, but rolled her eyes. "Do you have any habits I should know about? I don't approve of addictions… and we've already got one smoker in the house."

"No, never been one for anything like that. I've had a drink here or there, but it's been about a half year since I even bothered with one." Nataunia shook her head, laughing. "And smoking tastes nasty."

"Fully agreed." Willow rolled her eyes. "We're still trying to break Faith of that."

Nataunia blushed as she remembered some of the pictures she'd copied onto her computer at home of 'Faith' smoking. It tasted nasty, yeah, but the girl looked damn sexy taking a drag sometimes. "Um, if I'm invited for dinner, mind if I push my bike up into the driveway and bring in my helmet? I hadn't known if I was going to be blocking anyone…"

"Sure thing." Willow smiled and stood, following her to the door. "Oh, do you have somewhere to stay? I'm guessing that you're not from Sunnydale…"

"Um, yeah, I'm good for now, thanks." She smiled brightly and ducked out the door toward her bike, relief and giddiness rushing through her. She'd done it. She's actually managed to convince Willow to train her. She honestly didn't know if she was going to faint or start jumping up and down like an overjoyed child.

_**TBC**_


	4. Let the Learning Begin

By the time dinner had come around, predictably, Dawn had returned, and as soon as she entered the house, she was nagging for information. The excited "Yes!" and bouncing had amused everyone else, and surprised Nataunia no end, before the girl had turned red and run upstairs to 'change for dinner'. Buffy's comments had been along the lines of it making sense, as her sister obviously had a thing for Faith, and the pair could practically be sisters, if not twins. Other than Nataunia protesting Faith's adoption of the nickname "Mini-me" for her, dinner had gone well. It was only delivery, but the girl found herself in an almost easy camaraderie with them, when she wasn't spazzing internally over the fact that she was really having dinner with the women she'd been a huge fan of for the past six years.

As the evening ended, and Willow instructed the girl to be back at some point the next day to set up her 'records' for Sunnydale High, Nataunia had to heave a sigh at what was, honestly, the best night of her life so far. Not only was she somewhere that was, frankly, more welcoming and comfortable than she'd ever experienced, and she was to have daily involvement with superheroes she'd gushed over all of her teen years, but she also had a mentor and beginnings of real friends. She went to sleep in the ratty little motel room happier than she could ever remember being.

"So, what was the last school you went to, and your full name?" Willow asked, perched at her computer with a smile, cracking her knuckles in an exaggerated motion to signify she was ready to get down to business. Nataunia paled, and remained quiet, unable to really think of anything, at all, to say. Willow waited, still looking at the screen and ready to type, for about a minute before she realized that no information was going to be forthcoming. Looking up, she quirked a brow. "I won't be transferring all of your records, but it's easier to have something to start with." Nataunia still looked panicked, unable to meet her eyes. "Maybe just your full name, then?"

"Um…" She blushed and mumbled inaudibly, fidgeting in place in a way that did, indeed, remind the redhead of Faith. Perhaps Buffy had been on to something there. "I… need to use the bathroom! I'll be right back." Nataunia jerked and shot out of the room, eyes wide, and Willow nearly flinched at the slamming of the bathroom door. She could have sworn that the girl had been doing her best not to rub at the large scar on the inside of her arm, but wasn't quite sure.

As she flipped the lock behind her, Nataunia huffed, nearly hyperventilating. _Shit… she's going to figure it out. I can't tell her… I mean… he said not to tell her the __**truth**__ so I can't tell her what's really happening. If I give her my name, nothing will happen. She won't find anything. There'll be a big old nothing… or it'll be someone else, that's still currently somewhere else, and they'll know that something's up and then they'll think that I'm evil or something and I'll lose all of this!_ She was fairly sure that she was going to pass out again, and wanted to hit herself for the fact that she had basically become a pierced, modern version of a swooning lady.

"It'd help if you calmed down and breathed a bit smoother, yeah?" The voice behind her nearly made the girl shriek as she spun to stare at the man standing in… well… the bathtub. Not the most common, or least comical, of locations for him to appear. She swallowed the yelp of surprise and stared at him, pushing away the desire to giggle almost hysterically at the situation. "Guardian guiding spirit thingy at your service. That's somewhat like what you called me yesterday, right kid? Smooth move then… not so much now. Look at you, bad as Angel was almost. Sad really."

"The fuck am I supposed to say?" She hissed, ignoring the fact that he was speaking loud enough to easily be heard by anyone passing by. If, somehow, he had weird rules about being seen or heard because of his… condition, whatever it was… she was not going to have them thinking she was completely bonkers.

"Start with name, continue with hesitation, finish with insistence that you're fine." He shrugged nonchalantly, bending to pick up and sniff at some of the shampoo in the tub, still not coming out. She wanted to smack the thing out of his hands. "Or you're goin' by Taunie now, ain't ya? Start with _Nataunia_ Laurant, continue with hesitation, finish with insistence that you're fine. Which one do ya think uses this one? It's vanilla and cranberry."

"I don't care." She hissed, rubbing her face. "You said I'm from another place, right? How the hell am I supposed to be able to be found in there?"

"Nataunia Laurant of this world had a similar experience to yours in her school out in Indiana. Only thing in her records is her grades, which are passable," he paused to sniff something else, cringe, and put it back, before looking at her again, "and that she was found in the bathroom, having broken a mirror and attempting to introduce its glass to her arm. She exited the hospital a bit after, and ran away. Hasn't shown up since." He sighed sadly at the flinch it caused in the girl. "Her parents died in a car accident when she was just a kid, was jumping from foster place to foster place. A vampire got ahold of her about two months back, when her stitches tore and the blood attracted it to where she was living, homeless. She's one of those rare few we intervened with, to make sure that she wasn't found until she 'rose'… which happened to be about a minute before sunrise got her. Your picture has been replaced with hers… so as far as the legal system is concerned, you're her."

"That's a really big damn coincidence." Nataunia whispered, shaking a little at the memory, and truly rubbing her scar this time. "Why did she…"

"She had a… um… run-in with a boy that didn't end well for her." He provided not-quite-delicately. "And if I remember well, yours wasn't a mirror."

"Bad luck to break one." She mumbled, still looking awkward and unhappy and rubbing at the ugly scar. "We done?"

"Sorry kid. Ain't nothing I can do to change the past, but I'm still sorry all that happened to ya." He said, looking softer, and saddened, as he started to disappear again. "Don't let it weigh ya down too much… you're here now."

She looked up at where he had been, and shivered. With an effort, she pressed back her memories again, finding it easier to blunt their edges now that she was, indeed, in an entirely different world and reality. Letting out a ragged breath, she splashed some water on her face, and then went out to where Willow was still sitting, looking concerned. "Sorry… collected now. Ya wanted… a name?" She paused and Willow nodded, putting her hands on the keyboard again. "You're… not gonna turn me down when you see my records? Or insist to know a whole bunch of stuff?"

Willow frowned, but let out a breath. "We've all made some mistakes, Taunie. As long as you haven't made a habit of hurting people, and never made up for it, I think we're pretty safe to say that it's not going to change my mind." She paused again and tilted her head. "I am very curious now, though…"

"Um… Taunie's for short. My name is, um… Nataunia Laurant." She swallowed and turned. "Indiana. I was in… um… Indiana… I'm gonna go get a drink now. Are you thirsty? I'm thirsty. We could do with drinks. Yes, water's good. I'll go get us some water bottles… you don't think Buffy would mind, do you?"

"I'm sure she'd be fine with… it…" Willow stared after the girl as she rushed from the room again, this time holding tightly to her arm where the scar was. She had tactfully not said anything about it, nor had either of the Slayers, though she knew they'd noticed. Luckily, Dawn had remained oblivious to the scar, as far as she could tell. With determination, Willow turned to her computer, and quickly began working at the records of Indiana State's school system.

Thirty minutes later, her erstwhile apprentice still hadn't come back up with the proposed water bottles, and Willow was staring at the recently opened records. There wasn't much: her records as a ward of the state, the sketchy details of what foster parents she'd been with – mostly incomplete in their records due to negligence on the part of her case-worker – and her school and medical records. The school and medical records she'd started going through after she'd discovered what she could of the surprising information that the girl was an orphan. She had wondered, a little, where the girl's parents were, that she could just show up in Sunnydale when a 'spirit guide' told her to, but she hadn't expected to find that. Within a few weeks, maybe just a month or two, the girl would be eighteen, and thus no longer ward of the state anyway, so there was a minimum of effort being put to find her. When Willow saw the records for the school, and hospital, and how she'd ended up no longer attending, her worry grew.

"Oh Taunie…" The words were soft, and worried, and the redhead swallowed. No wonder the girl hadn't wanted to tell her anything. "Damnit… I'll take care of the transfer later."

Willow found Nataunia sitting at the dining room table, two bottles of water in front of her. One of them had been opened, but seemed to be pretty much untouched otherwise. The girl was just sitting there, staring down at her arm, and Willow frowned at having pulled out memories that caused the girl pain. "I'm okay, Willow." The words made the redheaded Wicca squeak in surprise, and Nataunia still didn't look up. "I'm just, trying to push y thoughts away. Are you done?"

"I wanted to check on my water." Willow offered lightly, happy when a wry smirk tugged at the girl's lips. "I guess you don't want to talk about it?" A snort answered her. "Alright. Well, I'll take my water then… and go finish enrolling you. I'm going to talk to Principal Wood, and see if we can get you tested out of junior year."

"Doubt it." Nataunia sighed and finally shook her head, looking away from her arm. She was glad of the distraction that Willow provided, especially as she was able to concentrate on the amazingness of being where she was, in the new situation she was in. "I don't think I could pass the tests anyway. A lot of the classes are… um… fuzzy now."

"Well, you should have enough credits that you'll only need to re-take the major things anyway." Willow said with a smirk. "I can see to that at least. I need you to promise to not tell Dawn I fudged a bit for you, though."

"Lips are zipped, Red." Nataunia winked, making Willow blush and huff at the name.

"Not you too." Willow groaned, and then reached to pull Nataunia up the stairs with her, careful to take the arm that didn't hold a scar. "Be careful or I'll make you memorize all of the uses of mugwart as your first lesson."

"Powers forefend." Nataunia teased back, smiling now, and tried to suppress the desire to hug the witch for helping her to forget for the moment. "So where is Faith, anyway?"

"It's still afternoon, so she's probably helping Buffy to make Dawn make up for missing her training yesterday." Willow smiled back at her and gestured her bed for Nataunia to sit on, returning to her computer and carefully minimizing the folders with information on what the girl had done to herself. "They're working on her cardio endurance."

"So they're runnin' her ragged and calling it teaching her to run away?" Nataunia asked with a broad smile. Willow laughed lightly. "Remind me to never miss any of my training… from any of you. You're probably as bad as the Slayers."

"Worse." Willow smiled at her mischievously, and Nataunia gave a fake shiver, making the redhead laugh again. "Now, Principal Wood knows what all of us are… mostly… and is aware of special circumstances for most of us. Since I don't know where you're at right now," she turned to eye Nataunia suspiciously, but received no clarification, "I had to put down our address as your home and emergency contact. If he says anything, that's probably why. You don't have to explain anything to him, he won't know about your past more than your grades, and doesn't have to know anything about why you're with us now."

"I don't intend to tell him anything." It came out as almost a growl, and Nataunia felt a slight tingle start at her hands and back, as if she were going to manifest her energy appendages without effort. Willow looked back at her, and the girl made herself calm down. It wasn't like she could tell the redhead that she knew what Wood had done, and she had no real reason, herself, for animosity toward him. "Thanks for letting me use this address."

"Mhmm." Willow eyed her a bit more, the turned to finish typing. "I'm going to try to see if I can find anything useful that will help with your… ah… special ability… before we start your lessons. We won't get into that immediately, as you need to learn the basics and rules first, but it may help me know what I'm working with as far as abilities are concerned. For all I know, most of the Power that I feel may be from the fact that your wings etc aren't fully manifested yet, but are capable of it… or you may just be magically powerful and need coven work once you've got your basics covered. We'll concentrate mostly on control and understanding at first, of course." Nataunia simply leaned back a little, listening to Willow babble about the lessons with a smile, all thought of her past gone for the moment.

* * *

The weekend had passed, mostly without interruption. She'd gone Saturday for the stressful computer-hookup to assure she could attend school, and had done dinner again when the Slayers got home with an exhausted and frustrated Dawn. Sunday had been uneventful, though Willow had insisted she come back for dinner again, much to the youngest Summers's delight and the Slayers' amusement. Now, Monday morning, she stood just inside of the principal's office, sling bag over one shoulder and helmet held in her hand. She'd have to get a real backpack eventually, if she intended to ever bring any of her books home, but hadn't bothered to yet. The man that was still smiling at her, and gesturing a seat didn't set off any bad vibes, and honestly, if she hadn't known about what he'd tried, she probably would have been overjoyed at his enthusiasm.

As it was, she wondered if he was trustworthy at all. "Please, Nataunia, have a seat. I'd like to discuss your class schedule with you." He was still smiling, and gesturing the seat she hadn't taken when he first offered it. She approached and set her things down in it, but remained standing, leaning on the chair back, and watching him suspiciously.

"I go by Taunie now." She was surprised that she hadn't growled it out, and sounded so ambivalent. Maybe that was why he was still smiling; she had probably managed to control her glare enough to not completely offend him. "What's there to discuss? Was there a problem?"

"Well, no, not really, but I understand you live at the Summers house." He was still smiling, and she felt her eyebrows draw together in a frown finally.

"What does that have to do with my schedule?" His smile faltered slightly.

"I had assumed it was due to your association with Buffy Summers." He finally said, folding his hands on the desk and attempting to look pleasant.

"It's because I didn't pass school last year due to unforeseen circumstances. I don't qualify for senior year." She waited for him to say anything, and when he didn't, let her frown ease and quirked a brow at him. "Can I go now?"

"Please feel free to drop by my office if you have any problems, Miss Laurant. I like to think that I'm available to anything my students need of me, and Miss Summers is one of my favorite employees. I like to think of her as a friend, and would like to think that of you too." His smile had returned full force, and Nataunia openly snorted as she picked her things up again, this time with the paper of her schedule added to her possessions.

"Sure thing." _In your dreams, dirtbag. Spike died saving Dawn, and __**your**__ ass was determined to dust him._ She turned and headed to the door. "Bye."

"And please find a clear retainer for your piercings. We have a dress code at this school." He added, still in a pleasant voice, as she closed the door behind her. Like that was going to happen unless Buffy or Willow made her. Dawn waited just outside of the office for her, near where Buffy's cubicle was, to show her around, and seemed a little nervous as she stood, fidgeting.

"Dickweed." Nataunia grumbled beneath her breath at the door, much as she'd done in her old life when people tormented or ignored her too often. Dawn giggled, overhearing, and she tried to not look embarrassed at being caught. "Hey. So here's my sentence. Lead on warden."

Dawn giggled again, blushing slightly, and moved to exit the office. "What did he want to talk about?"

"He wanted to welcome me to the school, and said something stupid about being friends because of Buffy." Nataunia rolled her eyes dramatically, barely noticing Dawn's frown at the words. "And some other stupid shit I didn't want to listen to about coming to talk to him anytime. Major fuckin' creeper. Where's my locker? I wanneda drop of the helmet before I was subjected to intellectual torture."

"Right… um… this way." Dawn was smiling again, her eyes alight with excitement. "The combination's on this paper. So… um… do you want to eat lunch with my friends and me? If you… well… Buffy comes by sometimes to say hi."

Nataunia raised her pierced brow before she turned, having reached the locker, to try the combination and struggle with the latch when it stuck. "Maybe another time. I was gonna hop off campus for food today."

Dawn looked at the schedule dejectedly, trying to find something to look like she was doing so that it wasn't so obvious that she was disappointed. "Oh… right… you don't have anything after lunch until last period." Her voice was low, and Nataunia tried not to flinch. The girl sounded really put down.

"I'll eat with ya another time, kiddo. How about I give you a ride home after school… you won't have to catch a ride with you're sister and her crazy driving." Nataunia offered, offering the brightest, most charming smile she could manage. Dawn looked up excitedly. "Just don't tell her I called her driving crazy, yanno? Don't wanna get Slayer-pummeled."

"Sure thing!" Dawn smiled brightly, and then led the girl to the first class of the day, despite the both of them being very obviously late. "I'll… um… see you later?"

"Ugh, yeah, if I don't die of boredom." Nataunia took a deep breath, as if in preparation, and ducked into the classroom. It was a bit melodramatic, but she felt she needed the extra breath to calm herself. She had to go through this whole high-school thing here, even if her memories of such a place were less than pleasant.

* * *

Nataunia had, almost predictably, skipped her last class of the day. It wasn't so much that she'd really intended to, but she was so used to not really keeping track of the time that she'd forgotten to get back to school early enough to actually make it into the classroom. The last period was almost halfway over by the time she'd parked her bike again, and she'd given up the class as a bust for the day, instead deciding to explore the school a bit. The library was… interesting. Despite knowing that it was a completely different, rebuilt school, she'd half-expected for the same set of stacks and table, and book cage, to exist. It was disappointing really, considering how much of the show had taken place there. She'd wanted to see it in person, impossible as that was.

As the bell finally rang, dismissing the students for the day, she moved back toward the parking lot, and hopefully a waiting Dawn, so that they could finally get away from the damn place. It wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be, really. The students were almost overly-friendly, especially a few of the jocks that she'd wanted to smack a couple of times. More than a couple of the girls had eagerly tried to make friends too, which if she didn't have to worry about them possibly finding out about her secrets, or those of the Slayers, she probably would have been overjoyed at. No one seemed to recoil from her, and the worst comments were only from boys that didn't seem to know the meaning of gentlemanly behavior.

"Yo, squirt!" She saw the youngest Summers chatting nervously with a few of her friends, looking around too often to not be conspicuous. Both of her friends stared a little as she walked up, flinging an arm over Dawn's shoulders and around her neck, to drag her off. "Let's get rollin!"

"Told you! Bye guys!" Dawn said haughtily, making a face at the two that were left gaping, staring after them. As they neared the bike, she struggled out of Nataunia's partial headlock, fussing at her hair and glaring at her in slight embarrassment. "Don't call me squirt; it's bad enough with Faith."

"Awe, don't you like that she's got a pet name for you?" Nataunia teased, smiling broadly and slipping onto the bike, then gesturing for Dawn to get on behind her. "It's better than Mini-me. I feel like I'm in an Austin Powers movie over here."

"A what?" Dawn asked cluelessly, and Nataunia cringed a little. Probably different movies and media here, considering that in her old world Buffy had just been a show. She had to keep that in mind. To keep from answering, Nataunia started the bike and shot out of the parking lot. Halfway back to the house, she paused at a stop-sign, and pulled off her helmet. "Is something wrong?"

"I didn't make ya wear it because your friends were watching, but if Buffy or Willow see me drive up wearing the helmet, instead of you… I won't need to worry about witchy-lessons anymore." Nataunia grumbled, smiling wryly, and shoving the helmet at the other girl. "Should fit you fine. No complaining." Dawn wasn't smiling when she put it on, but she didn't say anything either.

"Givin' out rides, Mini-me?" The comment from Faith was almost predictable as the bike slowly quieted and turned off, Dawn reluctantly getting off before returning the helmet. "Wouldn't mind a wild ride."

Nataunia blushed lightly, refusing to look at the brunette Slayer, and took the helmet back. "Um… just a ride home. Is Willow here?"

"Don't tell Buffy how you got here, Squirt. She'd kill my little clone there." Faith laughed, opening the door for them and bowing for the girls to enter ahead of her. "She's grabbing some things from the Magic Box, I think. Should be back soon, she left a while ago."

"You can come see my room while you wait." Dawn offered excitedly, and dragged Nataunia upstairs before Faith could get another word in edgewise. Both of them heard the faint chuckling from the brunette Slayer drifting behind them as Taunie was pulled into the teenager's room. She was a little surprised to note the differences from what she remembered from the show, but then again, she also supposed that the small details would have to differ from the show… it wasn't like she'd become a new character in the most recent season, and there were already larger differences she'd been made aware of.

"It's nice, Dawn. Cute." She glanced around at a couple of posters for bands she didn't recognize, and pictures of the Summers family both before and after the death of their mother. Tactfully, she didn't say anything about those, simply looking around and poking at a couple of different things. Though it wasn't the same as the show, it still pretty much looked like a teenager's room, if a little neater than hers had ever been.

"Cute?" Dawn's question finally brought her attention back to the other girl, and she noticed the frustrated blush.

"Yeah. It's cute." Nataunia smiled indulgently, trying to make it seem more like a compliment, so that the youngest Summers wouldn't feel offended. "It's nice. A lot more… comfortable… and welcoming… than mine was." Her eyes drifted to the family pictures again, and she barely noticed Dawn's expression soften.

"Hey guys!" The front door closing, and Willow's voice, drifted up the stairs to them, and seemed to break the somewhat awkward silence. Dawn's brows drew together in another frustrated frown, though, at their time hanging out getting cut short. "Is that Taunie's bike in the driveway?"

"We're up here!" Dawn finally called, leading the redhead into her room where the both of them were still standing. "Hi Wills."

"Hey girls. Taunie how was your first day?" Willow's eyes sparkled happily as she shuffled through the mail, occasionally glancing up at them. "Have fun?"

"Right… school… fun…" Nataunia smirked, making Dawn giggle, and Willow looked up at her curiously. "Eh… um… people were _friendly_. _Really_ friendly. I gotta say that it was weird." She sighed and shrugged then and shook her head. "Weird but good. I didn't mind too much, other than a few of the jerks being too friendly… but yeah, not bad."

"So I'm to take it as things being 'friendly' there." Willow's smile was slightly mocking, and Nataunia blushed slightly, rolling her eyes at the teasing. Dawn giggled again. "I'll probably end up eatin' with Dawn tomorrow…"

"Really?" Dawn nearly squeaked, and Taunie snickered slightly, nodding.

"Well, let's go ahead and get started. I still haven't found much on… well… what you're supposed to be able to do, but we can go ahead with the basics. Basics are… basic, and everything. Control and basics will help with what you'll do, because…"

"they're basic," Nataunia finished for Willow, smiling, and the redhead nodded with a matching smile, obviously excited and nervous about the first lesson with her student.

"Why don't you go see what Faith's up to, Dawnie?" Willow gestured Nataunia out ahead of her, making the younger Summers pout, and winked. "I think she's sharpening stakes again."

"Oh! Okay!" The excited reaction was, to say the least, amusing, and sent Dawn careening out of the room, in search of the darker Slayer.

"She's got a little crush on Faith." Willow smiled and shrugged as they walked into her room, Nataunia taking a comfortable seat on the bed. "Sometimes it can make things a little tense… but usually it's kind of useful to distract her."

"Buffy said something like that the other day… not about the useful, just the crush." Nataunia smiled and sighed. "So basics… how basic are we talking here? Like, ground and center basic, or spinning a pencil basic?"

"Let's start with what you know, and work from there basic." Willow offered with a quirk of her eyebrow. As the redhead took a seat as well, leaning comfortably against the headboard and looking at her, she nodded. "Tell me all that you know, or think you know, about magic. From there, I can tell you what's right, what's kind of right, and what's way off."

"Well… um… magic is composed of energy, like my wings and stuff… and thus if you can control or manipulate, or even create, that energy to any extent, you have power over magic to some degree, depending there upon how and how much." Nataunia hazarded, and Willow looked a bit impressed. "From what I've gathered trying to learn to manifest my wings, control, creation, and manipulation of that magical energy comes from a different awareness within the body and mind, which I'm assuming is one's '_Center_'. Grounding is sort of like steadying yourself, also a guess, and helping to brace both for control, and to keep your awareness rooted in your Self, so that it doesn't go wandering off. Another guess, on my part. Other things… um…" she rubbed the back of her neck, knowing, and playing off of, that she sounded less intellectual now. "… calling on another power, such as the Goddess, or a demon, or some other force, incorporates a portion of their energy and ability into the spell or magical work that you're doing… different objects can house, focus, etc the energy, thus changing aspects of a magical work… random guesses like that. So far all I've got is guess work and inference."

Willow smiled at the girl's sigh and shrug, nodding. "It sounds like a good start off point, better than a lot of people really…"

"Oh!" Nataunia's eyes got wide and excited and she nodded, interrupting the redhead slightly. "Oh! And- and- and that a bad potion goes poof! Or boom, if you really mess it up."

Willow couldn't help laughing at the girl's broad smile and joke, nodding. "Alright, that's good enough. Let's start with how to find your _Center_, and how to Ground properly. After that, we'll talk principal, theory, and both the rules of magic, and the rules of magic while working with me…"

_**TBC**_


	5. Moving Forward

"You gotta be fucking kidding me." Taunie growled to herself, halfway dressed for her night out at the Bonze when someone knocked on the door. The only person that had seemed to visit her at the motel was either the greasy manager or Whistler, and as she'd looked in to make sure he wasn't on shift before taking her shower, it had to be the ghostly-demon spirit-guide. Still growling to herself, Nataunia flung open the door, still scrubbing her wet hair with a towel, wearing only her sports bra and a pair of boy-shorts. Her eyes widened and a blush quickly overtook her features to see Faith standing, looking royally pissed, on the other side. "Uh…"

"Taunie." Faith greeted, still looking angry, and stepped in, closing the door behind her for the girl. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Should, um, ask you the same thing." Nataunia mumbled, turning to find herself at least a pair of pants. "So… um… what're you doing here?"

"Red sent me to check, and she was right. You're fuckin' staying at this rat-heap?" Faith growled, arms folded and glaring at the girl as she rifled through her clothes and pulled out a low-riding pair of cargo pants to throw on. "You know how many druggies deal out of here?"

"Because drug dealers and whores are the worst things to worry about in Sunnydale." Taunie retorted, smirking. Faith didn't smile back. "Look, I'm sorry. I know you lot seem to like me…"

"We _do_ like you…"

"… but can you really see me living with you guys? Seriously?" Nataunia sighed and threw her towel over the sink absently. "It's damn crowded in your place already. You're in the damn basement, and all of the other rooms are taken. Where do you think I'd sleep? And you don't need another teenage girl, with the number of bathrooms available there. I'm gonna start looking around for a more permanent place soon, it's just… it's only been a week, and before that I didn't know if I was gonna be able to convince her to help me."

"Yeah, well we _are_ helpin' ya, and we _do_ like ya, so we don't want you here." Faith argued, looking less angry now and more sympathetic. "Wills is really worried, Taunie, or she wouldn't'a sent me. I don't like ya here either… I know how lonely… how bad… it can get here. I may not look it, but I've seen how ya shy away from touch and things like that sometimes, and Dawn said that much as people try at school, you don't seem to have a lot of real friends yet. It's… if you wanted to talk… it's better if ya talk."

"I'll be fine, Faith, thanks." Nataunia said with a sigh, aching a little at the knowledge that Faith was reaching out to her, and she wasn't able to take the offered hand. She wanted to, damn how she wanted to. Faith was absolutely gorgeous, and as a person was amazing… and she had a feeling that the Slayer would be able to understand a lot of what she went through on an emotional level… but she wouldn't risk being thrown back into that old world by telling her. "I appreciate it, but… I don't think I'm ready to move in with you lot. I mean, at least here I got my own bed."

Faith just looked at her for a few minutes, silent, before sighing and nodding. "When ya are ready… you think about it, okay Taunie-girl? B an' I are still workin' things out b'tween us from… well… stuff that happened, but I'll fight her blue myself, if you need or want to stay there. Ain't good to be alone."

"Thanks Faith." Nataunia smiled brightly at her, and pushed back a few tears that wanted to leak out at that. If she cried, she knew that Faith would insist on her living with them, and she'd have little choice with a determined Slayer and Willow against her. "What cemetery are you patrolling tonight? I just gotta throw on a top and shoes and I can give you a ride."

"Nah, finish gettin' ready. I can wait." Faith said, looking a little awkward after the emotional words of before, and gave a smile as she settled on the bed. "Um… so you and Red, huh? Gettin' all witchy with the mojo. You gonna back us up on patrols now?"

"More like gonna learn to grow wings and do the aerial assault with mojo as a secondary attack… but yeah." Taunie laughed in the same awkward discomfort, and heard Faith snort behind her. "I'm supposed to learn how to fully manifest, like real-life, flesh-bone-and-blood manifest, those wings and claws and stuff. That's what my, uh, spirit-guide said. I'm still going to learn how to control and use my power, other than that, but we don't know how much of my 'power' is just that I have the wings and such at all, and how much is Willow's type of magic, yet."

"Wicked." Faith smirked at her, and, paranoid, Taunie turned to look at her. "You'll be our own little Gargoyle."

"Call me that and burn, Slayer. I know where you sleep." Nataunia narrowed her eyes and pointed at her accusingly, playfully growling. Faith laughed. "Callin' me 'Mini-me' and 'Kid' and stuff is bad enough. I know what Dawnie feels like now."

"Ah, the Squirt doesn't mind too bad." Faith laughed. "And I won't call ya Gargoyle… unless I really wanna piss you off."

"Good." Taunie laughed and held up two shirts to her. "Which one?"

"Ooh, I like that tank that laces up the front. It's _sexy_." Faith purred, smiling broadly, making Nataunia blush. "Go with that. Dawn'll drool all over the Bronze with you in that."

"Yeah, that's an encouragement." She grumbled, rolling her eyes, but went ahead to pull it on, along with an underwire bra instead, in the bathroom, just leaving the door cracked for Faith. "Because really, I need her to act more weird around me. Gives me the jitters already."

"Better you than me, Taunie-girl." Faith chuckled again, and Taunie rolled her eyes, finishing getting ready to the mutual banter and teasing of the dark Slayer. When she'd finally gotten everything together and ready, and gave Faith the promised ride out to the cemeteries, they barely caught Buffy on her way out of Restfeild. "'Kay Faith. I'm gonna drop by the house to pick up my helmet. Left it there after my lesson with Willow. See you at the Bronze."

"Hey Taunie… you were with Faith?" Buffy asked, walking up and looking curious. She noticed the barely damp hair still, and frowned slightly. "What were you two up to?"

"I was just taking a ride around, and ran across her." Nataunia smiled and shrugged nonchalantly. "Offered to give her a ride. You coming tonight?"

"Yeah, we'll see you later." Buffy nodded, and as she rode off, looked at Faith suspiciously. "Just ran into each other?"

"Yeah, I was checkin' out some stuff over in the grodier end of town, and happened across her. No big." Faith shrugged, pulling out a stake and twirling it as she and the blonde walked along. "Anything so far?"

"Right… nothing yet." Buffy eyed her, then continued along patrol.

* * *

The previous night had certainly been an experience. Buffy, Faith, and Dawn had all been there, and it had been one of the nights with a live band, so she wasn't entirely surprised at how packed the place got. Miraculously, they still managed to get one of the tables with a couch and chairs nearby, as the group had always done in the show, and Dawn had separated to dance and have fun with a few of her friends from school more than once. She'd only ever danced with one other person before, experiences she tried to forget, and had otherwise only goofed off alone in her room, dancing where no one could see her when the mood took her. She was surprised that it was so easy when Faith and Dawn got her out onto the dance floor, and Buffy even, a few times.

The night hadn't been too late, with Dawn out with the group, and Buffy even admonished her that she should worry about the time too, still being in high school as well. Faith's support of laughing and asking if Buffy had obeyed curfew in high school had bet with a tense glare, and the announcement that they were leaving anyway. So, she'd managed to get to bed by at least two, but was still tired when a knock, again, alerted her to someone at the door. She'd only just barely started to wake up, and only groggily remembered the previous night, and Faith's visit. A knock meant that it was either Willow, come early before the lesson to add her own insistence to Faith's, or the brunette Slayer changing her mind about letting Taunie stay at the motel. Or maybe even Whistler for some odd reason. She doubted it would be the grease-stained manager as early as ten, and yawned, groaning to herself, as she shuffled to the door so she could peak through the peep-hole, and figure out if she needed to yell for whoever it was to go away.

"Buffy?" Taunie grumbled, confused, to herself, and then unlocked the door to crack it open and look blearily at the blonde. "Buffy? What're you doin' here? It's only ten in the mornin'."

"You've been living here?" Buffy asked, pushing in and looking around the room in barely visible disdain. "Does Willow know?"

"Eh… prolly by now." Taunie yawned, not fully registering what was happening and wanting mostly to crawl back into bed for another hour. How had Buffy found out? "What's up?"

"Pack your things. I've got the Jeep with me." Buffy insisted, poking at the sheets of the bed with the same, barely visible disdain. "I can't believe you've been living in this dump."

"What're you talking about?" Taunie yawned again, stretching as she started to wake up more. "What're you doing here? How'd you figure out where I was?"

"I'm not that blonde, thanks." Buffy scowled. "After I saw you drop off Faith with wet hair last night, it kind of clicked. I mean, you're enough like her, after all."

"I'm gonna consider that a compliment, instead of an insult." Nataunia growled at her, and rubbed some sleep from her eyes. "What do you want, Buffy?"

"I told you. Pack your things, I brought the Jeep along. I guess you can sleep on the couch for now, until we find somewhere to make more room for you." Buffy looked to be in frustrated thought, and Taunie just glared at her. "Come on… Willow really likes you. I haven't seen her as happy as she is when she's teaching you since… well since before someone important to her died. Dawn adores you, and Faith practically considers you a partner in crime by now. You're not going to stay here."

"Right…" Nataunia grumbled to herself, standing to move into the bathroom and brush her teeth, mumbling beneath her breath and not caring about Slayer hearing, "Didn't seem so damn eager when Faith first got into town and everyone else liked her, did ya…"

There were several moments of silence as she carefully brushed her teeth, figuring on getting rid of her morning breath because Buffy wasn't likely to let her get back to sleep any time soon. Finally, as she was brushing her hair and pulling it back, she heard the Slayer speak. "You know… I didn't really want to leave her in this damn hole in the ground…" Buffy said softly, sounding ashamed. Taunie didn't comment. "At first I didn't really care… but… well… after a while I wanted to ask her to… but I never got up the courage to say anything. She was always going off on her own, doing her own thing. I didn't know what to say, to do. We both made mistakes."

"Ya ever tell her that?" Nataunia asked casually, leaning in the bathroom doorway. Buffy looked up at her. "That ya know you made mistakes, both of you… not just her."

"I… How do you know any of this, anyway?" Buffy pouted slightly, that frown-pout that Nataunia had always thought funny and cute on the TV. It had a similar effect now, but didn't change her mood from one of frustration.

"She didn't tell me about it, if that's what you're asking." Taunie shrugged, then bent to pick out some clothes for the day. "Does it really matter? Won't change anything."

"Why does your attitude and personality seem to shift so much?" Buffy asked, eyeing her. "I mean, one minute you sound almost exactly like Faith did when she was younger… all attitude and cool… and the next minute you're almost so nervous and evasive that you sound like Willow does when she starts babbling."

"I…" She hedged, getting nervous again at the questioning, and lifted up a shirt, eyeing it as an excuse to have a minute to think. "Well… um… what do you expect? I mean, you're the _Slayers_. How can I not be all nervous and star-struck around you? You're like, the ones that save the world. And then… then she's _Willow_, like _the_ Willow. She's the most powerful witch in this hemisphere, if not the world. It's starting to go away, all that nervousness and babble and stuff… cause, yanno, I'm getting used to it… but… well… fuck, just forget it."

Buffy was smiling fondly at her, and Nataunia frowned again when she noticed. "You sound even more like her when you're frustrated. It's sweet… if you ignore the cursing." She was still smiling, and Taunie blushed as a reaction, grabbing a pair of pants to go with the shirt she'd been holding and stomping into the bathroom. "So anyway, once you're dressed, finish packing everything else you have, and we'll go check you out of here."

"Right… and I thought we'd covered that." Taunie grumped out at her, throwing the clothes on quickly. Buffy grunted back. "It's my decision, and I don't think it's time yet. You got a lot of people in that house already, you barely know me, and… I don't think I'm ready for it yet. I got two more weeks here, no worry, and am lookin' for a more permanent solution. I'll be fine as I am."

"This isn't any place for someone to live, and a teenager shouldn't be out on her own." Buffy reiterated, frowning back. The two of them just glared at each other, before Buffy pointed at her stubbornly. "You've got one more night. I want you moved into our house by the time the weekend's over."

"Right." Taunie growled back, just as stubbornly.

* * *

The arguments had become something akin to nightly entertainment for the residents of 1630 Revello Dr. Nataunia had begun coming over only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for her training with Willow, though none of them really knew where she went on the other two nights, but when she did come, the lesson typically ended after Buffy had come in and asked where Taunie wanted to put her things. That generally spiraled into Nataunia's insistence that her things were staying where they already were, and they were fine where they already were, so Buffy needed to stop asking about it. Initially, Dawn had eagerly joined in, insisting on Nataunia's moving in, happy to even share her room if necessary. After the first several arguments, however, the teen had taken to simply watching on in amazement with Faith and Willow.

"I wonder if she realizes that if she pushed less, Taunie'd probably be here already." Willow asked in an aside as the pair went toe-to-toe, glaring. It was almost worth it to see Taunie actually growl, and it sound like a real animal doing it, in response to Buffy's stubbornness. Faith snorted, and Dawn giggled. "I mean, Faith, if it were you, it would have already come to blows a couple of times."

"Thanks, Red." Faith grumbled, frowning.

"What I mean is when you to scuffle." Willow corrected, sighing. Faith simply pouted. "It's not like she can with Taunie…"

"Yeah… but T's only got two more days at the motel, I asked her, and she ain't figured out anywhere else yet." Faith shrugged. "She just doesn't want Buffy to think she won."

"You can't just live on your own! And you can't keep living at the motel!" Buffy snapped back.

"I've taken care of myself damn long enough to live on my own, and the motel is cheap!" Taunie growled at her, and Willow could almost swear that she saw the faint signs of the girl's wings and claws starting to energy-manifest again.

"You're moving in tomorrow!" Buffy insisted, setting her foot down, literally, as if in demonstration.

"You are neither my mother nor my mentor." Taunie retorted, growling, and spun, stomping away. "Go stake a vampire!"

"I'll go talk to her." Faith opted, eyeing Willow as a silent message to talk to the blonde. The witch nodded, sighing, and Faith jogged outside to catch up with the girl before she sped off on the damn bike again. "T! Taunie! Wait up!"

"Hey Faith. Sorry." Taunie grumbled, still sitting on the bike and running a shaky hand through her hair before she let out a frustrated breath. "I… I'm not used to this. I've never blown up at someone like I do with her."

"I think it's another thing ya got in common with me, Twinkie. B can get under my skin like no other… but we usually end up wrasslin' it out." Faith chuckled, and sighed. "It's just cause she cares about ya, ya know. She doesn't want ya stuck all alone out there, none of us do."

"I know… I know." Nataunia sighed out heavily, then smiled wryly. "It's… no one's ever cared like that, before. I think I might fight against her so much for this because… well… I like knowing that she does it because she cares. It's new… I told you it's new."

"Fuckin' stupid reason to keep arguing if ya ask me, Taunie-girl." Faith growled, mock-punching her playfully. "Come-on."

"I think… I think I'm just scared. Faith, what if… what if it doesn't work out? What if I let you guys drag me in here… and it's like it was before, when I… what if I move in and none of us can stand it?" Nataunia cut herself off, not wanting to say anything about her old life, and looking sadly up at Faith. "Who's to say it'll work out?"

"Me." Faith, oddly enough, lifted her head confidently and folded her arms, surprising the girl. "I'm'a make it work. Come on, ya ain't got a lot more time at the motel. Couple days. Wills and I got some money together, we'll grab a cot or mattress or something from a surplus store… stick ya down in the basement with me. You'll have your space from the Summers girls, and I'm pretty sure you're tiny enough to make it through the little window thingy that's down there, if you're desperate to get out."

Nataunia smiled wryly at her, wanting to laugh at the last part. "She's going to gloat when I bring my stuff over, isn't she?"

"Nah… we'll tell her I convinced ya, and then _I_ get to gloat." Faith bragged, laughing. "Besides, you're gettin' more tired from your lessons with Red, and it'll be easier to just pass out after if you've got a bed in the basement like me. Ya already said your bike hadda near stall on ya twice when you were riding back." Nataunia saw the confused expression on Faith's face, and knew the Slayer still didn't quite understand the situation with the bike. "Weird little thingamajigger."

Even turned off, the bike sputtered at her in response. "Sidhe doesn't appreciate you calling her weird, or a thingamajigger." Nataunia offered, knowing that Faith still hadn't figured out that 'Sidhe' wasn't 'she', and thus an actual name. Faith frowned. "Fine. I'll bring my stuff over… but I'm not getting in a car with Buffy. I want to live to see myself living here." Faith's frown turned into a laugh, and Nataunia turned the bike around to head back to the motel for the last time. "See you tomorrow."

* * *

They hadn't gone out to the Bronze the previous night, mostly due to the Buffy-Taunie argument of the evening, and the blonde hadn't been present all that morning while Faith helped Taunie to haul her things downstairs. Willow had told her, then, that after a good meal, she thought they were ready to attempt to fully push out the girl's wings. They'd concentrated on that, after she'd quickly gotten down the basics of magic itself. Willow wanted to work on what the girl had, essentially, been sent to work on, and needed to know how much power the girl displayed both in and out of full manifestation. She had a feeling that knowing that would effect how much she could teach the girl of real magic, because it would tell how much she could really do.

"Okay… you've got on the backless shirt we got…" Willow nodded to the shirt that she'd made the girl change into, "and we've got somewhere here for you to crash out on if it exhausts you too much… let's go through a warm-up."

Dawn was out with some friends, and Buffy hadn't been around through most of the day, helping at the Magic Box supposedly for some spare cash, so other than Faith lingering downstairs a bit, they wouldn't be interrupted. Willow had wisely drawn the blinds, just in case, and it left them with little to use as an excuse to not try. Nataunia, nervous, nodded, and held up both hands. With concentration, she manifested the energy on one, then switched it to the other hand, then back, and then both. From there she moved to her wings, and then her tail, and then let go of the tail, then the wings, and finally her claws again. Willow had helped her to Ground and Center fully enough to have enough control that she could do those things easily enough, and they'd gotten to where she could manifest the energy for her claws only, or her wings and tail as well. She'd nearly pushed through for a full manifestation once, but it had started to hurt as the claws began to form, and Willow had pulled her back.

"Okay… warm up done. You ready? All that's left is to try." Willow smiled at her, almost as nervous as Taunie was, and the girl nodded.

"Yeah… Faith said earlier that if we get past this, I can start training in the fighting stuff to be able to defend myself if I go help with patrols." Taunie admitted, making Willow twist her mouth in frustration. The witch hadn't agreed to that, but Nataunia had said when she first showed up that she wanted to help. She supposed that with the presence of wings and claws, the girl would be able to hold her own without the full use of magic.

"Okay, breathe, slow and deep, and refocus your Center and Ground." Willow instructed, nodding as she felt the girl cooperate. "Now concentrate. Remember the push, and the twist, that you had the last time it almost worked…"

Willow's voice seemed to trail off in her awareness as Nataunia closed her eyes and let all of the energy manifestation develop, its sparkling, crackling energy nearly popping audibly as it spread. She had to keep her eyes completely closed, not wanting any visual input to interrupt her concentration, afraid that it would cause something to go wrong. She had to force herself to flex her hands open, knowing that if she were successful the claws could tear through the flesh of her hands if they were still clenched when it happened. Her concentration drifted inward, away from the tingling feeling along her skin where the energy had formed, instead finding that Center, that was so closely connected to the truth of what her spirit's form was, and pushing at that. Her breath nearly hitched, and she pushed harder. Then… it _Hurt_.

_**TBC**_


	6. Haunting Melodies

Willow stopped murmuring encouragement and guiding as she saw the girl's skin start to glow. Her eyes widened in alarm as she heard her charge groan and whimper in pain, still trying her hardest to make it work. Taunie had moaned softly in pain the last time, when she'd almost fully manifested her claws, and Willow had had to pull her back from trying further. Then, Nataunia had only been trying for the claws, and hadn't had to push so hard… and Willow had thought that, perhaps, it had hurt because the girl wasn't pushing everything out at once… that perhaps the pain was because she was holding the wings and tail back. This, however, sounded, and actually looked, like it was worse.

She stepped forward to try to stop the girl, insisting quickly, and loudly, for Taunie to stop, but the girl didn't seem to hear her. As the glow intensified, and a thin sheen of bluish-white fire, the same color that the energy manifestation had always been, broke out over Nataunia's entire body, Willow reached forward to try to shake the girl out of her attempt. The contact with the fire, though, was nothing like it had been when she'd been allowed to touch the energy that Taunie brought forward. The energy had a tingling, almost tickling feeling that left her skin itching and tight after the contact. This was something more like sticking her hand into fire and having the layers of skin peel away. Willow jerked her hand back, startled, and cried out, more loudly, for Taunie to stop.

Her words fell silent, however, when she saw Nataunia arch forward with a loud groan, and two points on her back, near her straining shoulder blades, start to push upward. She heard the thumping sounds of running feet, and just as the points started pushing up more, stretching the skin and seeming to grow underneath it, she spun to anxiously wave Faith away, so that the Slayer wouldn't see. The brunette glared, looking concerned and anxious, but after a second harried gesture, hesitantly walked off again. Willow turned to look at the grown points, eyes just as concerned as she watched on, trying to feel the flow of energy and magic around the girl and not fully able to keep up.

When the skin at the tips of those strange points split abruptly, and white, spindly forms shot up and along the shape that the energy wings had stretched into, Willow gasped. It looked almost ivory-like, except for the energy sparking around it, and she realized after a second of startled staring that they were the bones of the girl's wings. The hesitation only lasted for another several seconds as they flexed there, straining, before red strands quickly followed the path of the bones, waving wildly before finding places to attach on the white surface, and a long, slender imitation of vertebral bones shot out from the very bottom of the girl's back. Willow watched in horror as first bone, then muscle and vein, the various components of the necessarily anatomy, emerged in wild array from the girl's body, like some sick version of a movie's special effects, and attached themselves in the proper arrangement. Her stomach flipped, and turned, and she almost felt as if she might vomit from watching the entire display. Before she'd known it, thin, fragile skin seemed to grow at rapid speed over the whole of the newly growing appendages, and then scale formed over the areas with bone while the skin webbing the wings toughened to a weathered, leathery consistency.

Another moment passed, and as it looked as if everything was finally finished, Taunie strained just a little further, stretching her neck out and groaning, before the crackling of magical energy dissipated, and she collapsed onto the floor, whimpering. Willow gasped and surged forward, reaching for the girl. "Taunie? Taunie honey, are you okay?" Willow carefully touched her, knowing that the fire was gone, but still feeling a tingle on her hands from where she had touched it before. "Taunie, speak to me, please."

"That…" the girl coughed and started to push herself up, her wings flopping a little uncoordinatedly, and she shuddered, shaking her head weakly. "Well… that… that was certainly… a peachy walk in the park…" Her voice was croaking, and she spoke with the slightest of slurs, as if something impeded her from speaking quite properly, and she grunted out a small chuckle as she managed to push herself to her feet, with Willow's help. The soreness was quickly ebbing, though she was surprised that she'd survived the ordeal, and she could feel her muscles starting to twitch as they became accustomed to the new additions to her body. Willow still looked at her with the worry of if she'd nearly died, and Taunie chuckled again, feeling something brushing against her lips strangely as she moved her mouth. Hesitantly, she reached up, and felt along her teeth with a knuckle, mindful of the obvious presence of her claws now. "Well, fuck… whadyaknow. I got fangs!"

"Are you alright?" Willow still looked completely stricken, staring even more now that Taunie was behaving as if nothing had gone wrong. "You… that…"

"Hurt like fuckin' hell, yeah… but…" She stretched a little, and felt her wings flex and spread slightly, before putting forth the effort to make sure they were comfortably closed. She felt her tail lash against something, and sent it to the other side, where Willow couldn't step on it accidentally. "… but I think everything's in working order. It might… maybe it was just cause they were growin'? I mean, no one's done this before… you think it was supposed t' hurt?"

Willow continued staring at her, looking worried, and stared at the perfectly formed wings, and the working tail and claws. It looked amazing, true, and had to be one of the most magnificent sights of the redhead's life… which was saying something, considering how much she'd seen in her life in Sunnydale. It was something like seeing an angel, only with scaled wings and a writhing tail… and claws and fangs glinting in the room's light. Alright, so maybe it wasn't like seeing an angel, but it was amazing. "It doesn't hurt anymore?"

"Yeah… they're fine now… but I think I need to stretch them. The muscles keep twitching." She looked over her shoulder skeptically at the wings, and noticed a slight twitch in their placement every few seconds, then smiled wearily at Willow. "But, hey, it worked."

"Yeah." Willow smiled a little skeptically and nodded, then stepped back and looked the girl over. "Well, other than spreading them or folding them, any stretching will have to wait until nightfall… I don't think we want anyone phoning in anywhere to say they saw a girl with wings flying around."

"Heh, figured that it'd be same ol', same ol' in Sunnydale, home of the Hellmouth." Nataunia joked, hearing the back door close, probably Faith coming in. "I mean, come-on, really. Vampires all over the place; demon stuff's been done… Fucking-a, you don't think I'm part demon, do you?"

The girl's eyes got wide with fear, and she heard Faith enter the livingroom, chuckling. "Doubt it, Taunie-girl. You're not settin' anything off on my Slay-dar, and I don't get any baddie-tingles from you." The Slayer smirked at her, eyeing her up and down, and shook her head. "That's fuckin' Wicked though, T. Can I touch 'em?"

"Faith…" Willow admonished, frowning at the other woman's bluntness, and Nataunia chuckled, nodding.

"It's okay. I'd probably say the same thing." Taunie nodded, turning slightly to give them both better access. "You guys can touch them, just be gentle. I don't know if they'll still be tender."

"Shit this is Wicked, T." Faith said in awe, gently running her hands over the wings while Willow did much the same, helping her to spread them a little and checking as much for the feel as for if anything seemed out of place. "And you're gonna be able to fly with these thi…"

"Oh my GOD!" Taunie moaned, collapsing on top of Willow as Faith dragged her fingers along where the wings were joined to the girl's back. Willow and Nataunia were both blushing brightly as Faith stared in confusion. "D- don't do that."

"What'd I do? All I did was…" as Faith reached to demonstration, still in confusion, Taunie jerked forward, nearly clinging to Willow, and had to keep in firm mind that she couldn't clutch because of the claws. "Sorry."

"Don't do that." Nataunia reiterated, still bright red and staring with wide eyes over her shoulder at the brunette Slayer. Faith giggled lightly, and though Willow was blushing too, she smiled as well.

"We're gonna have to remember that one, Red." Faith joked with a broad smile, and Willow tried not to laugh along with her.

"Remember what… Holy Shit!" Buffy's voice drifted to them, and the blonde Slayer stopped short of coming into the living room as she saw her two friends and a pair of large, dragon-like wings. The couch blocked off the view of Nataunia's legs and tail, and she started groping behind the coat rack for the sword they typically kept there for emergencies. "Willow, get away from there…"

Taunie dropped one of her wings slightly, enabling her to look over her shoulder at the other Slayer and giving a view of her face. "Hmm… well Faith's reaction was a bit more enthusiastic."

"Taunie?" Buffy stared, hand half on the sword hilt, and Faith nodded, laughing. Willow glared slightly at the obvious drop in her apprentice's confidence, and Buffy slowly approached. "Damn, what happened? Spell gone wrong or something? I thought you two were sticking with simple stuff for now."

"Damn, B, haven't ya been paying any attention? This is what Taunie and Red have been workin' for since she first came here." Faith chuckled, waggling her eyebrows. "This is on purpose. Wicked-awesome, right? You can touch 'em… ooh! And check this out." Abruptly, Faith gently dragged her fingernails along the area where the scales met skin, trailing it down toward where the tail emerged and was still writhing. Nataunia nearly collapsed forward again, moaning.

"Faith stop that!" Willow scolded, hiding a smile, as she blushed and helped to support Taunie. "If she keeps it up, just snap your tail at her or something."

"Damn, Red, what'd I ever do to you?" Faith grumped, then jumped and squirmed away when Nataunia experimentally wriggled her tail closer to the Slayer. She looked like a woman that had just seen a rat. "Shit, that thing'll hurt, Taunie-girl Don't even think about it…"

"No more playing with the sensitive spots." Nataunia shamed, stepping away a little, and the blonde slayer and Willow laughed at the face that Faith made.

The rest of that day pretty much resulted in mixed feelings for the girl as she went from feeling like a science experiment with Willow constantly prodding at her and testing what her abilities were with everything manifested, and then feeling like a sideshow attraction with both of the Slayers peeking around corners to watch in interest. Couches and furniture was moved to test the movement and reach of her wings, which once Willow had actually measured them, they made sure several times that everything moved properly, and nothing was out of place from how they grew. Willow made her make tiny adjustments to the positioning of her spread wings, cup them, and various other movements that she explained later, in a _very_ lengthy lecture, were how Taunie would later be attempting to control her flight. They tested the strength and abilities of her tail, which was apparently able to move and be used like a whip, but prehensile and strong enough to lift what one of her arms could. Faith had been watching, again, at that point and suggested that they'd be getting weights for her to work on that strength. They'd also found that her claws were strong enough to slice through steel, though it had only been an old platter Buffy had been willing to spare.

Tests continued, time passed, and even after Dawn had gotten home, Willow was explaining the concepts and mechanics of flight as she did various magical tests to check Nataunia over. It lasted up until dinner, at which point Taunie was put through the embarrassment of having to be fed, as her claws didn't allow her handle utensils at all. Her joke that she now knew how Edward Scissorhands felt met with the laughter of the three adults, and the confused look from the teen. Apparently, Dawn had never seen the movie. Nataunia was just grateful that that pop-culture reference hadn't missed its mark too, after her offhand comment about Austin Powers had flown wide with the teen before.

"Alright… Taunie, Faith and I will run along with you as you fly, for if you can't manage a good landing yet, or if you lose control." Buffy offered, nodding, and looked around again for any sign of other occupants of the graveyard they'd snuck out to. "You remember Willow's talk about how to fly?"

"All of them." Nataunia offered, staring at the pock-marked wall of the mausoleum they'd chosen to use as a take-off point for her. Climbing on top of it would give her some measure of height to start out with, but its roof was low enough that the two Slayers could catch her safely enough if she didn't get it the first time or few. As she flexed her claws a little, nervous that though she should be able to use them to climb, she might not be strong enough to do so, the breeze picked up. It carried with it the faint smells of turned earth, leaves, and car exhaust, which she guessed were normal for a graveyard, and she had to wonder if maybe her sense of smell, or any other senses, had increased with the change. Breathing out a sigh, Taunie jabbed her hand and claws forward, bracing herself for the pain she half-expected to follow meeting the wall with.

Instead, there was slight resistance, and then a crumbling feeling, as her claws landed into the wall, crumbs of stone and dust dribbling down from where they stuck into the surface. She tensed her hand, and felt her grip strengthen, and reached up, digging her other hand of claws in further up, and pulled. It wasn't as hard as she thought it would have been, though she did feel the pull on her hand and arm muscles. The most trouble she had, really, was getting her boots to grip on the damn wall. When she'd finally scrambled up onto the roof, to the hoots of Faith and the worried comments of Willow, she breathed a sigh of relief, catching a multitude of other scents from higher up.

"I think my sense of smell is stronger." She called down, absently, and stretched out her wings experimentally. The wind felt wonderful against them, and it made her tail lash around a little bit. Willow was saying something again, but she hadn't really caught it, so she gave her wings a preparatory, strong flap… and was nearly carried directly off of the building with it. Her eyes widened and she scrambled a bit again, shifting her wings and flailing slightly to remain put. All three of them exclaimed, talking at once, in attempts to warn her to be more careful. Taunie smirked, and forcing herself not to clench her hands nervously, bent a little before jumping forward as strong as she could, flapping at the same time.

Willow yelped, squealing something about being careful, and the other to made similar, if quieter, outcries as they jumped into action, following her on the ground. Taunie flailed a little in the air, trying to get the hang of coordinating her movements, but managed to stay aloft. It was a strange feeling, the flaps creating a strange up and down motion to her movement, the flow of her wing-beats not quit smooth enough to keep her moving steadily yet, and after a few moments, she called down that she was ready to try her first landing. Faith and Buffy ran along with her, barely avoiding tombstones as they went, Willow trailing after by several yards, just barely keeping up. Experimentally, she angled her wings a little differently, and cupped them, then spilled air, then cupped again. It was a jerky descent, and certainly not timed well, because though she was low to the ground, and going much slower than before, she still ended up falling more than landing, with Faith as the unfortunate cushion to her impact.

Buffy laughed, and Nataunia shifted herself into a less awkward position, folding her wings a little and smiling down at Faith. "That was fun!" She'd been surprised at the thrill, and the amazing feeling of flight. It'd been so free.

Willow came running up as Faith growled, trying to push the girl off of her playfully. "Fun! She calls floppin' around in the air and crashing onto me _fun_!" Willow smirked slightly, and Buffy laughed again. "Ya gotta be kidding me, Taunie-girl!"

She looked at the position they were in, as she'd adjusted herself, and quickly moved up, tail lashing a little, and blushed. "Yeah, well, it was. I think I need to work on my landing coordination, though." Buffy nearly fell over in laughter this time, as Faith stared at her incredulously and Willow rolled her eyes. "Maybe I'll land on the blonde this time."

"Hey!" Buffy complained, her laughter stopped, and probably would have said more if someone hadn't come running up, flailing a crossbow around as he attempted to load it.

"Buffy, Willow, duck out of the way! I got it!" Nataunia looked at the dark-haired man curiously, the moonlight flashing slightly off of both her eyebrow piercing, and her fangs, as she did so. Faith chuckled, standing, and looked at Xander, as well as the just-catching-up Anya, as he fumbled with the crossbow bolt again. "Shit, stupid bolt… don't worry guys… I used to be better at this…"

"Damn good thing ya aren't anymore, eh?" Taunie growled, and looked him over. "What the fuck are you trying to do, anyway? The string isn't even cocked yet." He stopped, and realized that the reason the bolt hadn't wanted to stay in place was that, of course, he'd forgotten to pull the string back. Anya tilted her head, frowning in confusion as well. "Guys?"

"Hey Xander." Buffy smiled, and Willow waved. Faith chuckled again and leaned an elbow on Taunie's shoulder. "This is Taunie, Willow's apprentice. No need for crossbows here."

"What?" Xander paused halfway through the process of finally pulling back the string, and looked up again. Nataunia waved, wiggling her claws a bit, and Willow nodded, still smiling. "She is?"

"We thought she was a Succubus." Anya offered less-than-helpfully. "From a distance her skin looked a little gold, and it made sense with the wings and tail. As she pounced on Faith when she landed, and I am given to understand she is the one with the most orgasms in your group, it was understandable. She doesn't feel as if she is a demon though, and has a soul."

"The fuck?" Nataunia snapped, eyes wide, and stared at them, then at Willow and Buffy.

"I second that with another what the fuck!" Faith added, staring at them.

"I'm not a fucking sex demon!" Taunie provided, still glaring, much to the blushing, and amusement, of Willow. Buffy was just amused. "I'm fucking not! The hell!"

"It would explain your like of the word fuck." Buffy giggled, and Taunie glared at her. "Awe, don't be mad."

"Fucking Zeppo and his fucking girlfriend with the fucking succubus accusations…" Nataunia grumbled to herself, tail lashing a little, and she glared at Xander and Anya. Xander still looked a little uncomfortable, with the vengeance demon seeming disinterested.

"We thought we'd catch you on patrol." Xander offered awkwardly, his crossbow pointed down, and Anya huffed in annoyance. "Anya has your pay for helping with the shipment today, Buffy."

"Thanks." Buffy smiled, and Anya grumbled more, handing over an envelope. "Thank-you for parting with your money, Anya. I know you like money."

"Yes, I do, and I don't see why I must pay you. You helped with shipments last year, when Mr. Giles was managing the shop." Anya huffed, eyeing the slayer unhappily. "Money is good, and it takes money away from me to pay you."

"Giles is in England, so if you want my help, or Faith's help, you'll pay." Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. "It's cheaper than letting the delivery-men do everything, and breaks less of the delicate things."

"Yes, it does." Anya conceded, still frowning. "But I don't like it." Xander indulgently patted her shoulder. "So why is Willow's apprentice pouncing on Faith, and why does she have wings?"

"I wasn't pouncing on Faith, I was trying to learn how to land!" Nataunia snapped, growling. It startled Xander a little, but Willow, Buffy, and Faith had all gotten used to it from the girl's previous arguments with Buffy. Anya looked unaffected by the growl, probably from her thousand years of experience with other growling creatures. "And I grew them. It's an ability. I'm just learning to use them… I'm not a fucking succubus."

"In literal terms." Anya quipped, and then seemed to frown in thought. "You… grew them?" When Willow nodded proudly, and Nataunia snorted at her, Anya seemed to grow a little nervous. "So… you're the Winged…"

"Yes, I have wings. We've covered this." Taunie interrupted, still frowning. "I'm going back home to see if I can get rid of them before school starts again."

"I'll go with you…" Willow offered, looking both worried and sympathetic. "I'll see you later, Xander. Um… bye, Anya." The both of them waved a little nervously, for very different reasons, as the redhead trailed after her apprentice to assure nothing went wrong in the girl's attempts to change back.

* * *

"So this is what she's been doin' this time, when she disappeared on Tuesdays and Thursdays?" Faith asked curiously, surprised, as the entire group settled happily onto the beat up sofas of the bronze. Anya had 'work' that evening, supposedly, which Buffy and Faith had conveniently not heard when Xander said so, so the Zeppo was catching up with Willow and Buffy as much as he could while they waited for the band to finish setting up on stage. "I mean, didn't think she'd have it in her, yanno? She gets a little… you know… withdrawn and stuff when a lot of people pay attention to her."

"Supposedly, when nasty-breath-boy from my Lit. class met her at the pizza place, he was there with his tutor. The guy's the band's drummer." Dawn nodded, shrugging at the supposed 'shyness' of their friend. "They ran into each other at school, and she's been hanging out with the band. She says she gets along with the guitarist really well."

"They're opening with her song, right?" Faith asked, and was instantly shushed by both Willow and Dawn as the lights changed and opening chords rang out, catching the attention of the majority of the audience. Even Xander quieted down, watching curiously.

"_**Rain… falls… down… blurring everything around me."  
**__**But You…**_

The opening chords, and the haunting initial lyrics sounded a great deal like Evanescence, surprising most of the group there, except for Xander, who thought it suited the moody girl. She'd been in the Summers house for a week or two, and in the times he'd seen her while there, she seemed to either be angry, shy, or Faith-like.

"_**Clouds above… but only one with a silver lining…"  
**__**Just you…**_

"_**Words and time are lost to me…. Now I'm falling endlessly… And only one thought does remain with me!"  
**__**It's you…**_

"_**Only you!" A face among the shadows…  
**_"_**Ever you…" an illness and a cure…  
**_"_**Forever you…" tormented by my passion…  
**_"_**You…" I refuse to be ignored…**_

The chorus had rung out with surprisingly haunting guitar riffs, and Taunie cradled the mic in its stand in front of her. In the background, the normal singer for the band provided the background voice, gently strumming or hitting on her bass guitar as she did so, adding to the song.

"_**Still trapped in… my tortured infatuation…"  
**__**With you…**_

"_**Still I'm torn… my two sides continue warring…"  
**__**Over you.**_

"_**And words and time are lost to me… I'm still falling endlessly… But your thought remains with me!"  
**__**It's you!**_

"_**Only you…" Your face among the shadows…  
**_"_**Ever you…" my illness and my cure…  
**_"_**Forever you…" torment me with my passion…  
**_"_**You…" I refuse to be ignored…**_

It seemed to be fairly popular with the crowd. Most of the high school kids were cheering, and even the bartender, who saw countless bands come through the club, was paying a bit of attention as he poured drinks. Willow though, almost absently, that there seemed to almost be a kind of haunting magic to the girl's voice, possibly drawing people more into the song.

"_**Words and time are lost to me!" Only you…  
**_"_**And I'll stop falling endlessly!" Forever you…  
**_"_**And yet that thought remains with me!" It's ALWAYS you…**_

Another guitar riff sounded out, and the boy that she'd supposedly become friends with stepped forward, striking out an echoing solo on his instrument. Willow glanced briefly at Dawn and Faith, a bit surprised. It was a very different style than Oz's with Dingos Ate My Baby. For the next chorus, both Taunie and the original singer sang together, before the girl continued with the end of the song.

"'_**Only you… Your face among the shadows…  
**__**Ever you… My illness but not my cure…  
**__**Forever you… tormented me with passion…  
**__**You… I'll no longer be ignored!'"**_

"_**And though a piece of my heart is lost," Lost to you  
**_"_**I won't be a fool," You play me like a fool  
**_"_**I'll wipe away my sorrow" You poisoned me  
**_"_**And as I turn away,  
**__**I know that in the end,  
**__**My indifference to the pain… Was all… for…**_

_**You."**_

A small silence followed the drifting end of the song and the background instrumentals, before the crowd cheered and applauded again. Nataunia slipped easily away from the mic stand, letting the original singer step forward and the rest of the band meld into their next song of the set. It was significantly less haunting, though still with a slightly darker quality to it overall, and let the audience dance more than her melodies had. As she made her way over to their table and seats, ducking a few people that tried to talk to her, Faith noticed a slight strain on her features.

"Oh my god that was so awesome!" Dawn gushed as soon as Taunie had made it over, taking a seat and the water they'd had waiting for her. Buffy absently congratulated her, smiling. "That was so awesome! Wasn't that awesome? It was awesome!"

"It was mad wicked, T." Faith agreed with a smile, nodding, and watched the girl a little more carefully. "Ya got some pipes on ya Taunie. Where'd ya learn to sing like that?"

"It's just kinda… there… I guess." Nataunia scratched at the back of her neck and blushed, uncomfortable with the praise and attention, and glanced around at where the dance floor was crowded with bodies. "I guess you guys liked it?"

"It was wonderful. You should really sing more often." Buffy enthused, lifting her glass in cheers, and Xander even offered semi-enthusiastic agreement. Dawn bristled a little, and Taunie blushed again as she caught Willow's bewildered expression. "You said you wrote that, right?"

Willow's confusion and surprise seemed to increase, and Faith's eyes narrowed a little at that. Dawn gushed that Taunie had said just that thing, and Xander excused himself to get another drink, now that most people were dancing, instead of ordering. "Yeah, well, mostly the lyrics. A while ago…. It's no big. I kinda knew what I wanted to do, and the guys wrote the background stuff and helped to iron it out. Most of the time Lisa, up there on vocals right now, will sing it with the rest of 'em doing backgrounds… but they wanted me to open for them with it. It's just… been in my head a while. I uh… yeah… so… oh look at those people dancing. They're dancing. It looks like they're having fun, wouldn't ya say, Dawn?"

"Is that why you acted like you got the heebie-jeebies when that boy called to ask you out?" Willow prodded gently, putting a shoulder on the girl's shoulder.

"Eh, no. Not really. It wasn't him… I just… um… I don't like talking about that ex much…" Taunie said cautiously, looking around uncomfortably. Buffy was mostly quiet, watching on, and Faith looked a little concerned again. "Is it warm in here? Maybe it was the stage lights. I think I'm a bit warm, aren't you?"

"He really hurt you that bad, T?" Faith asked, just as carefully as Willow had, and Dawn pouted a bit. Buffy swallowed, a little uncomfortable too.

"Um… no… I mean… yeah… I mean…" Taunie struggled and took a long pull of her water, looking trapped. "It was complicated. She didn't mean to… well not the way she did… it's not like… It's just complicated."

"It's okay, Taunie-girl. We can drop it. Ya don't have to talk about it." Faith said, just as Dawn was about to ask something, and Willow was a little surprised by Faith's intuitive moment. Dawn looked about to protest, and Faith frowned. "It's okay, just drop it Dawnie."

"Um, thanks." Nataunia swallowed again, still blushing. After another tense moment of silence, one of them, she couldn't tell who, suggested dancing, and the entire group ended up dragged out to the dance floor.

* * *

Willow had, more than once, attempted to broach the subject of sexuality with Taunie. It was usually mostly due to either Dawn's obvious crush on the girl, or the one that Nataunia seemed to have on Faith sometimes. She'd, more than once, mentioned a girl that she thought was cute, or talked about the crush that Dawn had had on Faith before. Taunie had only ever given a passive response, never really rising to the conversation. Thus, the redhead hadn't really even known that her apprentice liked girls until the conversation at the Bronze two nights prior. As she and the girl folded laundry, she kept glancing over, and knew that it had to be obvious.

"So… Taunie…" She started, and then couldn't quite think of how to continue with what she wanted to say. They'd have to handle the Dawn thing soon enough, but more than that, she wanted to talk about if the girl liked Faith. Willow, at least, knew how much of a dead end that would be.

"You gonna say why you keep lookin' at me like I'm gonna sprout a second head?" Nataunia asked casually, attention seemingly more on the shirt she was folding, then reaching for another. She didn't seem to even look like she was paying attention to the conversation. "This is about me being gay, right?"

"So you are? Gay?" Willow asked, curious, and grateful that she didn't have to initiate the subject of the conversation herself. Who knew how much babble this was going to result in, actually getting to that point without Taunie mentioning would have doubled that.

"Yeah. As the rainbow. You too, right?" The girl finally looked up and over at Willow, almost lazily, and the redhead blushed brightly and nodded. "Ya shoulda figured about me before we talked in the Bronze, yanno. I'm kinda obvious."

"I tried, um, talking about it before… but… well… it either went nowhere… or I started making vowel sounds." Willow hazarded, and leaned against the couch to look at the girl, instead of the laundry, and give her full attention. Taunie, however, continued at the chore. "But… you are gay…"

"Yeah. Covered that." She answered, then snapped out a pair of her pants to get the twist out of the legs. "This about Dawn or Faith?"

"Both…" Willow giggled nervously, surprised at how upfront about it Taunie was being. "And… um… her… if you wanted to talk."

"Not really." Taunie sighed, and finally turned around as well, giving Willow her attention in almost resignation. "And them… well… don't see how there's a point to talkin'… but you're a talker, so I guess we will. Sup?"

"You don't think there's a point?" Willow asked, eyes wide. "To talking about it I mean?"

"Yeah." Taunie smirked wryly and shrugged. "I know I ain't got a snowball's chance with Faith. She's in love, I get that. Pretty fucking obvious, from where we stand… but you can't always help who you crush on… and she's fucking hot. But hey, I accepted how things are. It's not hurtin' anything, and I can look all I want. I mean, yeah, if I had a chance, I'd probably take a roll with her… which that's not something you wanted to know and I didn't mean to say…" Nataunia's face flushed brightly and Willow looked just as embarrassed. There was a brief moment of quiet as both of them tried to recover from that. "… but yeah… much as I really like her, and she's fuckin' gorgeous and an amazing person… I know it won't happen. I dunno, maybe I'll find someone else to jones after eventually. Just lettin' it play out."

"That's actually… really mature of you." Willow sounded surprised, and got Taunie's tongue stuck out at her for the comment. "Sorry… um… you're sure?"

"Yeah. That's how… um… I've always handled it, actually. It's not usually a case where anything'll come of it anyway." Nataunia shrugged again, and sighed almost sadly. Willow's eyes softened. "So yeah, it's no big. Like as I told you. Cool there?"

"What about Dawn?" Willow asked, still a little surprised at Taunie's maturity about it. She wouldn't have been able to handle it that way at the girl's age, she still wasn't entirely sure she would handle something like that with the same maturity. When the girl didn't answer, Willow tried to prod her on by use of the Resolve Face.

"Ooh, big-bad Resolve Face. Fear-oh-fear." Taunie taunted playfully, bringing a pout forward instead and laughing lightly at it. "Well… um… Dawnie kinda… gives me the jitters. I mean with the staring and giddiness. It's… weird. I'm not really… um… used to… that… it's not usually someone that likes me, yanno? I'm trying to, well, avoid. Avoiding is key. Avoiding, putting off, and sometimes running. Pretending it's not happing too. That's working _really_ well for me. I'm buying stock in that company."

Willow's eyes rolled back in frustration and she had to suppress the desire to cover her face dramatically. It would figure that the girl would be insanely mature in one aspect, and then run like a scared child in the other. "Taunie…"

"What? What do you expect me to do? Sit her down and go, ' hey Dawn I don't dig you that way because I want to have sweaty kinky sex with one of the Slayers'? Hells to the fucking no." Taunie asked skeptically, and then her eyes widened and her face turned bright red. "Can we pretend I didn't just say that?"

"I'm trying. I really am." Willow was red too, and ducking her head to press her hands over her ears. "Oh Goddess it's echoing in my head."

"Divert! Divert, divert!" Taunie insisted, flapping her hands and still blushing brightly. Someone else entered the room, interrupting their embarrassed moment, and looked at both of them confusedly. Willow just took a look at Buffy, blushed again, and started giggling. "Buffy! The Slayer! It's a Slayer, Willow! Look!"

"Ooookaaaay…." Buffy eyed between them, and chuckled a little. "Faith sent me in here to ask Taunie what it feels like to have her wings fondled… but I think I walked in on a bad part of the conversation, if the colors of your faces are anything to go by… so now you have to spill."

"I was just… um… asking Taunie what her type was?" Willow hazarded, her blush renewed tenfold as she attempted to come up with anything so that they didn't have to repeat what the girl had said to Buffy. "Um… you know, to double. Like, mentor apprentice doubling… we could go cruising for chicks."

"Wills, you couldn't cruise if your life depended on it." Buffy laughed lightly, cracked up at the possibility of her shy, babbling friend attempting to go out and pick up girls, especially with Taunie.

"She wants me to tell you what _what_ feels like?" Taunie squeaked, finally able to say something again, and her face was still red. Willow's gaze shot to her in surprise, and she blushed lightly again, remembering how the girl had reacted. Buffy smiled and nodded. "Why the hell would you… why the fuck would she… I told her that I wasn't fucking saying that again."

"You explained it to her?" Buffy asked in surprise, then smiled broadly. "Now you have to tell me. We were sparring, and talking about how to train you in non-witchy combat, and it came up. Come on, Taunie… you can tell me."

"You're fucking kidding me." The girl growled, folding her arms. Willow sniggered slightly, and Buffy pouted at her. After a moment of the blonde insisting again, she growled. "Fine! Come here… it feels like…" Buffy leaned forward, listening to the girl's smirking whisper, and when she leaned back, her eyes wide, Taunie was still blushing, but she stuck out her pierced tongue and wiggled it a bit. Buffy's face flamed brightly.

"Oh Goddess, I don't think I want to know." Willow giggled, still blushing, but unable to help laughing at Buffy's face. "Why would you ask?"

"Seriously?" Buffy was still blushing, but stared at Taunie, who shrugged and rolled her tongue barbell in her teeth before turning back to chores. "Holy…"

"Yeah, whatever. Don't worry Buffy, ain't happening with me. I don't do the blonde thing anymore. Way not my type." She snorted, and heard Buffy cough in reaction. She looked over her shoulder at them, and saw Willow giggling lightly. "I'm into the cute redheads now."

Willow, miraculously, somehow managed to trip while standing still, and landed in an embarrassed heap on the couch. It was Buffy's turn to laugh as Nataunia giggled and returned to folding clothes, satisfied that the embarrassing conversations were over for the day.

_**TBC**_

_**Yay, we've started into some of the stuff that was missing from the original postings. Remember, R&R. Cookies encourage me to keep going.**_


	7. So Much New

Time seemed to be passing so slowly, and so quickly, all at the same time. Nataunia had, in essence, turned her entire life around in the course of less than three months. Less than a quarter of a year, and she was living a life so very different than where she had been. It had become somewhat of a pattern, even. She would go to school, most of the time, and then either go home to train with Willow, or sometimes Faith, and about every Tuesday or so she would go to the band's practice. Apparently her performance at the Bronze had garnered her a bit more popularity as well, because she was having to deal with more people at school trying to talk to her. It was nice most of the time, really, the attention and smiles; it was something that she hadn't experienced before Sunnydale. On the other hand, though, she really didn't know how to handle it. Having been in the situation she was, she didn't know what to do when people talked to her most of the time, or when someone would get what she thought was uncomfortably close. Dawn claimed there were tons of rumors about her floating around the school due to what people saw as mysterious and aloof behavior, which was really just her not knowing how to deal with them, and that there was a running pool to see who would get a date with her first.

That last bit of information had come as a surprise to her, and she had nearly snorted out the soda she was drinking when it came. A running pool... a contest for the first date with her... and she was one of the gossip topics of the school? She couldn't quite believe it, and would have chalked it up to Dawn's exaggeration, had they not been at their weekly Friday at the Bronze, and Clyde with them. The young man nodded, smirking at her happily, and gestured absently at where his crush, and several other boys, were trying to watch her without being noticed. The rest of the Scoobies were only a table away, at their usual spot on comfortable couches, whereas she and Dawn were hanging out with a few of the band members at a table that was not surrounded by comfortable and overused sofas. She glanced around discreetly again, and noticed that some of the girls were watching her too. "So... is it just a running pool with the over-confident jockstraps or is it the whole school?"

"Jockstraps. I like that." Clyde, the geeky drummer, laughed, and she saw the Lisa smirk as well. Neither of them were particularly fond of most of the sports players at the school, having been among the outcast 'nerds' for most of their lives. "And nah. Some in the underground are after you too... and I think one of the cheerleaders started a 'rumor' about you being gay."

Taunie glanced around again, and this time caught the smirk on Faith's face. The Slayer had been eavesdropping. "Is that why people keep getting up in my personal space? Fuck, why the hell, man? I should just tell them all I'm asexual or engaged or something. I can't deal with this." She sighed, comfortable with the people at her table at least. Dawn, when around the band members, had calmed down enough to where she didn't mind too much. The younger Summers could be a pretty cool person, when she wasn't nervous and jittery. The band members, too, were fairly laid back, and reminded her a great deal of Oz without the wolfy tendencies. It left for comfortable silences, a bit of witty banter, and a lack of awkwardness. The rest of the school wasn't so wonderful to deal with though, and the prospect of being the fox in a hound chase wasn't exactly appealing to her. How was she supposed to train with Willow, or help the Slayers, or deal with her winged lifestyle, with hormonal brats after her? She doubted any of them really even knew anything about her other than what she looked like and that she sang with the band once in a while.

"I could pretend to be your girlfriend, you know, to throw them off a little." Dawn volunteered, sounding a little too nonchalant about it. Taunie eyed her suspiciously. "If you're dating someone, only the skeeziest will hit on you, and you can just claim that you're a one-woman-gal."

"One, Buffy would kill me." Nataunia offered, shivering at the thought of having to explain to the blonde Slayer that she was leading the girl on in order to escape hormonal peers. "Two, it'd be weird to use a friend that way, Dawnie. Three, that's an amazing idea."

"Okay, that last one wasn't really along the same lines as the first two." Dawn complained, frowning, and then wrinkled her nose. "And Buffy can deal with it."

"No, no, no. The claiming I've got someone already thing. How do they know if I'm single or not?" Taunie smirked a little, and glanced over at the rest of the Scoobies. "I'm gonna have to get everyone to cooperate though. And figure out a name for the mystery girl."

"Or you could skip the drama and actually go out with someone." Lisa said, looking at the pair of them like they were a couple of clowns. "There's gotta be someone among the masses that you're attracted to."

"I may not be dating anyone, miss priss, but I am fair. There's someone, who you _already_ know about, that I want. I know it won't happen, but I want nevertheless." Taunie rolled her eyes and poked at her drink, brooding. "I want badly... which sucks... but it wouldn't be fair to whoever I decided to go out with, because my mind wouldn't be on them. I mean, would you want to go out with someone who's thinking of someone else half or more of the time?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The girl waved her off, but was smiling indulgently in agreement. She tried to ignore Dawn's slight pout next to her. "Whoever this chick is must be one hell of a woman... and one hell of an idiot."

"Love, my friends, makes you do the wacky... the wacky including not wanting me." Taunie smirked, and watched as her small circle of friends laughed. "I doubt it makes her an idiot, but it does make her loyal... which adds to the hell of a woman part. Okay, _different_ subject now. Everyone has their crosses, holy water filled squirt-guns, and stakes, yeah?"

"You are _so_ weird, but yeah." Lisa rolled her eyes again, but once again smiling indulgently. "I can't believe you're making us carry this stuff."

"Honey, this town has a huge death-rate, the last school was _blown up_, and there are more animal-attack deaths slash gang-member-on-PCP attacks than a place like this warrants." Nataunia argued, eyes narrowed at the girl. "You promised to keep at least the squirt gun and cross on you in case of one of those PCP attackers came at you."

"Which will help so much." Clyde chuckled, but her glare made him silent.

"Yeah, well, when the wrinkly, fanged face is screaming in horror at the puny little watergun giving him an acid burn and has a smoking cross wound across his demonic features, you'll be thanking me... and then you'll be needing a nightcap because a shrink won't believe you." She rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna go check out what's up with Dawnie's varying degrees of guardian-caregiver-people that have been so kind as to take my lonely self in. _You_ lot remember to squirt first and ask questions later."

"Aye-aye cap'n." The guitarist joked, finally adding to the conversation from where he'd been sitting, observing the band that had been hired for the night's sets. Likely he was comparing styles and getting ideas. "Squirt first, ask questions later."

"Be as snarky and sarcastic as you want, Derrick-dick, but do as I say, or I'll stake your ass." She growled at him, smirking, and he rolled his eyes, attention once again on the music. Obsessed. The boy was obsessed. Then again, she could get just as focused too, on certain things. With a wiggle of her fingers in farewell, and a few comments from Clyde about wanting to "stake someone's ass", she dragged Dawn back over to the rest of the scoobies. "Yo."

"Yo-yo what-up home-y." Xander joked at her greeting, making her roll her eyes and flop down on the couch between Faith and Willow. The pair chuckled at her reaction, and Dawn reluctantly leaned against the arm of Buffy's chair. "You down wit it yo?"

"You have no idea what you're saying, do you Xander?" Willow was still smiling, and the Zeppo grumbled something about Anya and roleplaying before standing from his chair and wandering off. The youngest Summers quickly took the opportunity at her own seat. "So… Faith mentioned something about people chasing after my little student."

"I'm not little." Taunie argued, instead of denying the information. _Damn Slayer hearing._ Faith chuckled. "So what's up?"

"Awe Taunie-girl… ya don't wanna talk about that crush ya said you had on someone?" Faith pouted at her dramatically, and Nataunia did her best to not blush. "How ya know she isn't into ya anyway? You're hot shit, T."

"Thank-you oh so much, Faith. Your 'faith' in me is astounding, and your compliment fills my heart with confidence. I shall search this girl you are convinced exists out, and re-enact the balcony scene from _Romeo and Juliet_." Taunie's voice was grumbled in a deadpan as she rolled her eyes, making them all giggle. "Can we please change the subject? I have to plot on how to convince the school that I'm seeing someone… either that or develop mad-player-skillz overnight. Goddess I'm going to turn beat red the next time that cheerleader talks to me, now."

"Well, other than your interesting soap-opera love-life, or lack-there-of," Buffy offered, still smiling slightly, "we were talking about how the vampire activity seems to be increasing finally. It's usually earlier, around the start of school, but they seem to have gotten a late run at it. Faith and Willow agreed you're ready to try out patrols once a week with us. No big fights, but enough to get some working experience. She said that you're kinda handy with a crossbow when you try _real_ hard at it."

"Meaning when she pisses me off I can make her dance with crossbow bolts at her feet." Taunie smirked, and Faith laughed.

"Yeah, from like five feet away!" The brunette slayer continued chuckling her husky laugh, making Nataunia blush in reaction to the skepticism. "You're good enough with one that if ya can keep up in the air, you'll be a distraction if it comes t' needing it. Other'n that, it's fledgelings and watchin' for ya."

"I'd make a comment, but you'd either turn it sexual or snarky, so I thus keep my lips shut." Taunie growled at her, but was smiling softly. "So when do I get to go out on one of these Slaying ventures with you, oh wise Slayer-woman."

"We were gonna split off on a patrol after Bronzing, ya can start then." Faith was looking smug, and Willow gave them both an apprehensive look. "Red said ya can just do the claw thingies. Those should be good for now, until ya get the hang of action."

"Yeah… um… changing fully at the Bronze, with lots of witnesses, would be _bad_." Taunie agreed, cringing uncomfortably. Willow gently patted her shoulder, expression protective, but what surprised her was the support she felt in Faith's hand squeezing hers by her side, discreetly. "What about Dawnie? Ain't she supposed to be, you know, learning the family business?"

"Dawnie keeps skipping her lessons." Buffy growled, and the younger Summers made a face at her. "When she stops skipping lessons, she can start patrols with us." Taunie looked questioningly at the redhead, and Willow shook her head. "Wills said she had some reading to catch up on… so it's just you and the Slayers… or rather, you and Faith. I'm taking the opposite end of town, so we can get patrol done faster."

Willow smiled softly, and winked, despite the both of them knowing that the patrol would result in… well… probably arguing and teasing instead of nothing, but not the result that Taunie would have liked. Then again, as the thought started to circle in the witch's head, she frowned. Faith was, likely, not the best prospect for Nataunia to be dating in her opinion anyway.

* * *

"So when's your birthday, Mini-me?" Faith asked, twirling her stake around idly. Much as the Slayers may have claimed that vampire activity was picking up, it had been a slow night. Taunie was perched on top of a tombstone, crouched as if she were a gargoyle, even if her wings and tail weren't out at the moment. Nataunia didn't answer. "Helloooo… Taunie? T? Taunie-girl… I asked ya a question."

"Yeah, I heard you." She shrugged, eying the fresh grave, and wondered when it was, exactly, that Slayers resorted to grave-watching for their patrols. "You call this having picked up?"

"B and I made a light patrol before Bronzing it, and a lot of vamps kinda turn in once the kids from the club have all reached home. Not a lot of idiots out late at night." Faith offered, twirling her stake again, then raised an eyebrow. "Ya didn't answer."

"Nope, I didn't." She smirked at the brunette Slayer, and when she saw Faith move to swipe at her playfully, leapt from the tombstone, rolling on the ground and coming up with a laugh. "Why you wanna know?"

"Because you're my friend." Faith snorted, and then tackled her. The pair went down in a light wrestling match, Nataunia losing quickly. At least the Slayer was going easy on her, even having to be wary of the claws. She stuck out her tongue when she was pinned, then bucked Faith off, glancing at the grave again as she stood. "I wanneda see how ya did with a light load before I just threw ya at a full patrol, Taunie-girl."

"Yeah, I figured." She sighed and leaned against a tombstone, tapping her claws on it instead of digging them in like she wanted to. "I don't know you're birthday…"

"December 14." Faith offered with a cocky grin, and flipped the stake. "1980, if ya wanna be all specific. Oh, and since I know your last name's Laurant cause'a Red, might as well make us even. Faith _Lehane_. Now… birthday."

Taunie blinked a few times, surprised. "Um… you're going to laugh." She fidgeted, and watched as the turned earth marking the grave started to shift. They'd have company soon. "November fourteenth." Faith waited for a moment to see if the girl was joking, and then started chuckling. "Why'd you bother finding out my last name?"

"Cause I was curious." Faith shrugged, still chuckling, and kicked the hand that was groping around through the dirt, attempting to pull the vampire it was attached to up. "Besides, ya knew the last names of everyone else there. Why not the other way around?"

"How do you know I didn't know your last name then? I might have mysterious, witchy powers that tell me the names and lifespans of people." Nataunia smirked and wiggled her claws at the brunette slayer. "They're in flashing red above your head, and only I can see them."

"Very funny." Faith snorted, and then smirked a little. "For all ya knew, I was like Madonna, all one-named and stuff." Taunie rolled her eyes, and then moved forward and staked at the vampire that the Slayer held out of the ground impatiently. She blushed slightly when she missed the heart initially, and then had to re-stake it. "Nice. So you'll be, er, eighteen, right? Big party. Only couple-a weeks…"

"How about for your birthday we go cause some mostly-legal havoc and forget about my birthday all together." Taunie asked, vaguely recalling the horror that birthday parties could be in Sunnydale, if Buffy's various attempts were anything to go by. "Isn't the eighteenth the Crusty-mint thingy for Slayers?"

"Right…" Faith winced and wrinkled her nose in distaste. She'd avoided hers simply by not being attentive to her Watchers and going rogue, but she'd heard enough about Buffy's to know that it wasn't a pleasant experience. "But _you're_ not a Slayer… and from the look, ya don't care. Right, no eighteenth… but I'm getting' ya _drunk_ on your twenty-first." She paused, and then eyed the girl. "Unless ya already drink and I needa kick your ass."

"I've only ever drank under silent protest." Nataunia offered, confusing the brunette and smiling as a result. "No worries… and no getting drunk on my twenty-first either… unless, saying I survive in a place like _Sunnyhell_ for the next three years, you plan to babysit my drunk ass and make sure I don't decide to do fly-byes on Bronze-goers that night."

She expected a laugh to echo hers, but instead felt a thump on her shoulder. It actually hurt, and she turned a shocked frown on Faith. The Slayer was scowling at her. "Don't you _ever_ fuckin' joke about dyin' like that again, got me T? Never. Ain't fuckin' happenin'."

"Um… right…" She absently rubbed at her shoulder, not really paying enough attention to not snag and rip her shirt sleeve a little. They walked through the cemetery in awkward silence for the next few minutes before they began to banter just as awkwardly. By the time they'd reached the house again, Faith had managed to fish a few brief bits of information out of her about her life before Sunnydale, though not anything particularly specific or significant. Nataunia was surprised that the brunette Slayer was so willing to part with details about herself in return for those small bits of information, considering how closed off she'd been with the rest of the Scoobies when they'd been getting to know each other. True, Faith was in a much healthier place than she had been when first coming to Sunnydale, but it was still more than Taunie expected. Willow's light was still on, but she didn't come downstairs when they returned, and it looked like Buffy had already returned, so neither really lingered upstairs long. As she curled under her blankets on the cot, she eyed over at where Faith was getting comfortable. "Faith… it's not that I don't appreciate it and all. I mean, I'm honored and, yanno, stuff… but… you're awfully share-girl with me."

Silence reigned for a moment before Faith finally sighed and rolled over, not really sitting up to face Taunie, but positioning so that it was easier to hear her. "T… you're different than the rest of 'em here. I… we didn't really tell ya all what's happened in the past. A lot of shit went down. I was wicked messed up, Taunie-girl. I… I screwed up with the gang. I look at them, and good as it is now, they'll always have that other shit colorin' what they think of me. It'll always be there, in th' back of their heads, knowin' what I did… what I can do. You weren't there, ya didn't have to feel it, see it. I mean, someday, you'll probably get the whole story and shit, but ya didn't experience it first hand. You're… like a fresh start, as friends go… the closest thing I got to a best friend. I figure, I tell ya what ya ask, cause that's somethin' I never offered people before."

Taunie swallowed and clutched the blankets around her tightly. She hadn't experienced it, true, and hadn't been there to see anything first hand… but she knew a lot more than Faith could ever really know. She felt guilty not telling Faith, not just about knowing, but about herself. "Faith… you're… you're the closest thing I've ever had to a best friend. I… um… thanks. I… I still can't tell you everything… I just _can't_… but if you ever wanna know something, I'll tell you if I can."

She could practically hear the smile in Faith's voice as the dark Slayer answered. "Thanks T… but ya tell the gang that I got all mushy with you and I'll clobber ya."

"Fuck, same here!" Taunie agreed, and the pair laughed. After a moment, when they'd calmed down, she smirked into the darkness. "You know we have to do a girlie sleepover thing now, down here, just us two shitheads, to confuse the fuck out of the rest of them."

"I'm not braidin' your hair, T, and you sure as shit ain't painting my nails." Faith growled, barely keeping back her laughter. Nataunia had the sneaking suspicion that the Slayer was blushing, though.

"Fuck that shit. I might make you let me brush your hair, and then make you do that too… but other'n that we're playing poker or blackjack, eating pizza, and listening for when they try to listen in to say things that will make them gag or faint." Taunie laughed, and heard the other girl join her. "Fuck I gotta go to the Magic Box with Willow tomorrow at like… _ten_. Why the hell is it even open that early?"

"Get to sleep, wuss." Faith commanded from her bed, and Nataunia snorted at her. "I'll teach ya how to use your big blade tomorrow, if ya can get away from Red at some point… once I'm awake."

"Lucky brat." Taunie grumbled good-naturedly, rolling over again and trying to get comfortable enough to go to sleep.

"Night, T."

"Yeah yeah… night F." Taunie growled, smiling to herself.

* * *

"So how did patrol with Faith go last night?" Willow asked with a sly grin as she picked through some of the spell supplies available, Xander yawning over the counter. Anya had scurried off, saying something about money, when they'd entered. Taunie was barely paying attention, though she was supposed to be learning how to pick out proper herbs; she was exhausted.

"Hmm? Patrol? It was a patrol." Taunie yawned, the action drawing another out of Xander. "I staked wrong, but he was still in the ground, so I just tried again." She sighed and stretched again. Willow giggled, and slowly what she'd said filtered in. "Fuck… I didn't mean to admit that. Why do we needa be here this early?"

"Because I'm backing up and securing the school's computer system this weekend as an independent contractor. I have to be there at twelve." Willow said, frowning at some sage that had to have been there when Giles first purchased the place… it almost powdered in her hands. "Eugh, either Anya's not checking her stock as it comes in, or she refuses to throw it out for fear _someone_ will buy this. Even rubbed sage as a cooking seasoning doesn't powder like this, Taunie, don't buy it when it does that."

"Eh… right." She sniffed and sighed again, trailing along after her. "Patrol was kinda… dead. They went before Bronzing, and I went out with her as a trial, when it'd be slowest… which she only told me _after_ making me sit around waiting for a fresh grave for a while. She was all talkative, though, and there was minimal grunting, so it wasn't too boring."

"Didn't relish the time alone with her then?" Willow teased.

"Ugh, thanks, I need to think of that this early. Really." Taunie grumbled, then picked up a bag of dried elderberries. "These good? They smell fine." Willow glanced at them, took a whiff, and then finally picked up one to roll between her fingers, nodding. "Do we not remember me talking about the knowing I have no chance? I'm very firmly in friend category, someone we both know is very firmly not there, and I accept this. There is acceptance and… eugh this smells nasty… acceptance and lack of concern. There was much with the looking happily, and a little wrestling because I'm not just sexy but also a genius… but that's pretty much it. I'm trying not to think of it too often."

"Sexy and a genius. I'll have to remember that." Willow blushed, but laughed, teasing. Taunie stuck out her tongue and wiggled her piercing at the redhead. Willow blushed more, barely remembering that something about the piercing was involved with the description previously given to Buffy. "That stuff's supposed to smell like that."

Taunie cringed and laughed, handing the twisted, nasty root-thing to her mentor and moving over to the lavender bundles to clear her nose, glad that Willow had decided not to continue with the subject. "So what's going on for Halloween?"

"Really small patrols, supposedly, to make sure no vamps are trying to feed on unsuspecting children, and then a quiet night in, far as I know." Willow called, picking through the herbs again to find some decent examples for Taunie. The girl was too tired, and too disinterested, to really be paying much attention, though, and it was the kind of thing that required time and experience to pick up. "Why?"

"Eh, no reason." _Right… Halloween is supposed to be the night off for Slayers. Maybe next year I can see what it's supposed to be like for normal people._ Taunie glanced over at Xander, and smirked at him sleeping on the counter. They were the only ones in the shop, though, so he didn't really have to watch out for anything. Likely, the bell on the door would alert him to anyone else. "Doing anything for Samhain then?"

"A small ritual. Did you want to join me?" Willow actually sounded excited, and Taunie smiled. With a soft nod in the redhead's direction, she crept over to where Xander slept. Willow was quiet, going along with it, and Taunie smirked in tired mischief, raising her hands near is head. Then, smile broadening, she clapped once, as loudly as she could, right by his ear. The man jerked, jumping back and flailing as he fell from the school he'd been perched precariously on. Willow giggled lightly as Taunie laughed to herself and ran back to her mentor to avoid too much of his grumbling and glaring. "You're mean."

"Yeah, but he's watching the shop… which means his eyes need to be open." Nataunia shrugged, still smiling mischievously and turning back to the morning of herb selections. Maybe she'd catch a nap before admitting to Faith that Willow was busy for the afternoon.

_**TBC**_


	8. GirlieNight Truths

**_Wow, two chapters this time... and you guys though I'd forgotten about you. Nah, just been damn busy. Hope you like the stuff that was cut out of the original version._**

* * *

Faith smirked at her, and Taunie paused mid-chew in a brief moment of worry. The slayer had managed to push back their 'igirlie sleepover thing/i' long enough that it was fairly near the girl's birthday. She knew that was what the slayer had done, but had gone along with it when Faith hadn't mentioned anything about birthdays or such to the others of the house. For that moment, as the darker slayer smirked at her over their pizza, Taunie feared that she'd been duped, and the others would come parading down the stairs any second.

"So… what was the name of the mystery girl again?"

Taunie let out the breath she'd been holding and swallowed, rolling her eyes. "I never _told_ you the name of the supposed mystery girl…." She paused, preparing to take another bite, and eyed Faith. "And I won't."

"And that means I'm right, and ya do have a girl your jones'n after." Faith was still smirking, this time more proudly, and Taunie rolled her eyes again in response. "I meant that chick ya made up to be datin' so the kids at school leave you alone."

"Zoe… and they haven't been." Taunie sighed and leaned back against the cot, watching as Faith carefully picked out her seventh slice from the pizza box. There was the slightest sound of someone, upstairs, shuffling at the door, but it didn't open, so neither did anything in retaliation. "Some of 'em aren't in my personal bubble anymore, yeah… but a couple of the cheerleaders have been buggin' me even more now, and the jocks won't fuckin' shut up. Dawn nearly tackled one that pinched my ass."

As Taunie smiled happily at the memory of the surprised, and clueless, halfback stumbling away from an enraged Summers girl, Faith snorted. "You're hot, Taunie-girl. Just gotta accept it. More you let it bother ya, or respond to it, more they'll pester ya."

"It wasn't like this before…" Taunie sighed and set down the unfinished half of her slice, staring up at the basement ceiling. "Even back then I didn't really want to be _popular_, you know… I just wanted some friends. Any friends… people that could be around me for more than a minute… that would smile…" She sighed and shook her head, trying not to pay attention to Faith's oddly quiet end. The slayer was probably looking at her sadly again; Faith would do that whenever Taunie let something along those lines slip. "I like that people want to be around me now… it's nice… but it's so fucking overwhelming sometimes. All those people? The boys trying to corner me? Everything… it's just so…"

"Overwhelming… yeah…" Faith finished for her, the slayer's tone of voice telling Taunie that she was, indeed, giving her the sad-puppy look. From Faith she knew it wasn't pity. Faith had been through enough in her own life to not pity, just empathize. There was a moment of awkward silence that passed between them, though, before she heard the slayer snort. "You could always beat the shit out of one of those jock types and start giving the pompoms the stink eye and they'd probably leave you alone…"

Taunie chuckled too, sputtering and swinging her head around to stare at her friend. "Fuck! With my luck the kids at school would think me 'cool' and 'badass' and I'd just get more fans!"

Faith laughed too, and they lapsed into comfortable silence again. The evening wasn't passing too badly, all said. It wasn't quite her birthday yet, another several days, but it was probably the best birthday celebration she'd ever had, however unofficial it was. Just the two of them, they'd gotten the others to leave them be for the evening, with several boxes of pizza, soda, cards, and… of all things… scrabble. They hadn't broken out the board game yet, but Faith had given her a nasty look when she'd laughed at its presence.

"Okay, name of the game is blackjack truths." Faith laughed, shuffling the cards quickly and efficiently, with a couple of tricks thrown in to make Taunie feel significantly intimidated. "Sorta like truth or dare, but instead of getting the option, you lose a hand, you have to answer a question. Preferably an embarrassing one. If not, you have to do something equally humiliating determined by the hand winner."

"You suck!" Taunie decried, laughing and shaking her head. "And you're on!"

"Mkay, you know how to play blackjack, yeah?" Faith raised both eyebrows and Taunie glowered at her. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Hit or stay?"

The first several hands were easy. Faith didn't completely screw her over, though the girl was fairly sure that the two times she'd won had been given to her, and the questions, though embarrassing, were light and amusing. Finally, she squinted with a wrinkled nose at the perfect blackjack Faith had displayed to her, beating her twenty. "Sometimes I think you cheat."

"I didn't ask ya that." Faith smirked at her, and Taunie snorted. After several silent seconds, she felt tense, and looked up at her friend. "T… girl… what'd ya mean about before, huh? About just wantin' people to be able to be around ya, and smile?"

Taunie shifted uncomfortably. Finally, she hedged. "It has to do with what I am. My energy. It put people off."

"Doesn't seem t' do that here, T." Faith nearly growled, and she sighed.

"I've got it more under control now, I guess. I belong here, it's not the same."

"Taunie…"

"Faith, I just can't, okay? I'm sorry…"

"Why!" Taunie winced back at Faith's sudden outburst, and looked worriedly at the slayer. Thank the powers the others had ducked out just a bit earlier for a movie with Xander. "Why can't you, Taunie? Huh? Why! Don't you know what that does? To you? The way it eats inside? Do you know what holding that shit back did to me? T, I'm fuckin' worried about you! Why won't you talk to me!" Taunie's brows knitted and she could only stare as Faith pushed a shaking hand through her hair. "Please, T. Anything. I'll do anything if you'll just talk ta me… to anyone. Red even! Dawn! Anyone! No one knows anything! I'll tell ya anything ya wanna know about me. My past! My mom! That… that _thing_ that was in me…. Malice…."

"I… Faith… I just… I'm sorry." She let out a dejected breath, swallowing hard, and watched Faith storm out of the basement. "Shit!" After several moments of standing there awkwardly, not really knowing what she was supposed to do now that Faith had run off, she moved to chase after her. It wasn't that Faith couldn't' take care of herself… she was a Slayer, for fuck's sake… but she hadn't been lying when she'd said that Faith was the closest thing she'd ever had to a best friend. She got all the way into the front yard before she managed to sense the slayer up on the roof. The climb, even aided by the tree, wasn't easy. "Faith, please…"

"Why can't ya talk to me, Taunie? Why?" Faith huffed out, and she was almost sure she saw tears on the dark slayer's face. "Is it me?"

"No… no… it's… I just can't. I'm… I can't." Taunie crouched there nervously, watching her friend, and nearly rolled off of the roof, startled, when a voice spoke behind her.

"Why not?" Faith jumped too, obviously having not noticed anyone approaching, and turned to glare menacingly, especially after Taunie had to scramble not to fall off. Whistler shifted his tacky shirt and shrugged his shoulders, as if they weren't discussing anything important.

"Fucking-A Whistler!" Taunie hissed. If she were a cat, her back would have been nearly bent in half from arching so high. "Scare the shit out of us why don't you? Eh? And for fuck's sake, you're the fucking one that gave me the fucking rules!"

"Again with that word, huh? Not very polite, is it?" He rolled his eyes at her as if she were clueless. "Doesn't exactly seem like Faithy here would go blabbing it around, now does it? Sure as anything she won't try anything stupid like sending you back. No harm in saying anything." Taunie glared at him, and he rolled his eyes again. "Jeese, we decide to let you have someone know and this is the thanks we get. No appreciation, no appreciation at all…"

If it hadn't been enough that he was standing, idly, on one of the tree branches without any other support or balance, he began to quickly fade away as he griped about her lack of appreciation, making Faith twist and jump to a defensive posture. Taunie glared at the spot where Whistler had been, and let out an annoyed breath. All of that damn time hedging and avoiding with Faith, and they wait until it got to this point to say anything. "What the fuck…"

"He does that. It's really annoying." Taunie growled, still glaring at the spot, before she looked back at Faith. The slayer looked about ready to either freak out, or attack something, and Taunie ducked her head, guiltily. "I… um… There are some things I have to tell you."

* * *

Faith looked like she was in shock, and where her eyes had been a bit puffy from crying before, they were bloodshot and glossy again with unshed tears. Taunie had explained everything, with a great deal of relief at finally being able to explain, to get it all out, and had even come to tears once or twice at the fuzzy memories of the other world. It wasn't all clear anymore, her time in this world, where she should have been in the first place, doing a good deal to dampen and dilute her connection to the other, but having experienced how life should have been all along made what she could remember hurt all the more. She hadn't liked explaining to Faith that, where she came from, all of this, everything around them and the entire group's history was nothing more than a television show. She hadn't thought, though, that the slayer would take it so hard. They'd dealt with stranger things, before.

"I…" Faith swallowed and looked at Taunie with those glossy eyes, and the girl tensed in preparation. "You… you've seen… you what I'm really like… I… Taunie…"

"Hold the fucking phone." Taunie growled, making Faith wince. "Stop that right there, Faith. It was a fucking show! Yeah, I was creepy obsessed with it sometimes, but it was a fucking show. There are enough differences, and _I know what those differences are_, to know that I did _not_ actually see you like that. And no, it wasn't you. She was worse. Either way, though, that was you then, not anymore. Don't you fucking freak out over that because I don't give a shit what happened back then. It's past."

Faith laughed, forcefully wiping the stray tears from her eyes, and snorted at Taunie. "Fine. Damn… it's just… yanno… awkward that I know ya seen me at my worst… worse than my worst even, I guess." Taunie rolled her eyes. "So ya had a thing for me, eh?"

"Had… have… whatever. I know ya don't think of me like that." Taunie shrugged and sighed, smiling as she realized that Faith didn't hold her secrets, or her past, against her. "You're in love with Buffy, I know. It's cool. Besides… I like having you as a best friend. You know I've never had one before."

"Yeah sure… just no more molesting me in my sleep." Faith joked.

"I never once!" Taunie sputtered, and moved to climb down ahead of the slayer. "Big head. Damn, ya admit a girl is hot and first thing she does is accuse you of perversions…"

"So I'm the reason why ya don't wanna date anyone from school, T?" Faith asked, hopping down and nudging the girl into the house again. The others would be back home again soon. "That's kinda fucked up."

"Okay, firstly, I had a huge crush on you, so that wouldn't be fair to whoever I would have been supposedly dating." Taunie argued, making Faith roll her eyes. "And two, I don't know that I could… you know… be with someone, even if it's not serious… after…" Faith shifted awkwardly at the top of the basement stairs, and Taunie looked at her just as uncomfortably for a moment before preceding her down. "She fucked up my head, even if it wasn't all her fault."

"All of it was." Faith interrupted.

"Even if it wasn't all her fault." Taunie reiterated, though not forcefully, and rolled her eyes. "I mean, it's enough that just having people not cringe away from me and want to be around me… It's weird to have people actually want to date me. For me to be with someone from school, when I'm still getting used to just being popular? It'd be difficult enough to date someone that didn't know about whatever it is that I am, without having to add in how fucked up my head is to that equation."

"T, that chick didn't care about you. She saw you were hot, had some money, and easily influenced and controlled. I seen it before… I've been there." Faith growled, shoving the cards off to the side and considering the now _very_ cold pizza. "She got what she wanted from you, and screwed with your head the entire time using that feeling the 'not-belonging' you explained gave her as an excuse… and then when you wanted more, she fucked your head so much that you wanted to die. It's _all_ her fault… and when ya finally get together with another girlie, you'll see that. It doesn't have to be serious enough to where you'd worry about them finding out about your wings."

Taunie snorted and twisted around on her cot, watching Faith shove their mess around and munch on cold pizza. "So what, you think I should actually go out with one of those airhead cheerleaders? Or one of the other random chicks from school, most of which probably only flirt with me because it's supposed to be 'cool' to do so?"

"I think you're scared, T, and that when ya stop bein' scared, it won't be as bad as ya think." Faith grumbled, and sneered at the crust she'd been gnawing on. "But, take your time, yeah? Rushin' it would just fuck your head up more."

"Wise words, oh Slayer." Taunie sighed.

"Yeah… well… been where I have," and there Faith tapped her own head, "and gone through that shit in your head like I did… deal with it in prison like I had to… you learn a little bit about what's cause you're scared, and how to move at a good pace."

"And Buffy?"

"B ain't ready…" Faith sighed and flopped onto her bed. "I don't think she ever will be… but that's okay. We got so much history, and so much shit went down, it may be better that she doesn't."

"Faith, if she's gay, she's so far in the closet she can't even see the door anymore." Taunie grunted. "Now _that_ is scared."

Faith laughed a little bitterly, but nodded. "Whatever, B's still… B. Maybe someday I'll get over her." Taunie snorted. "Or I'll pine away. Yanno, one or the other."

"Thanks Faith." Taunie didn't have to look in the slayer's direction to know she was looking up. Upstairs, the front door slammed as the other three returned from the movie. "For, you know… accepting me. As I am. I… don't want to ever have to go back."

"Never gonna happen, T. Never gonna happen." Faith lay back again, and listened to the others upstairs move around. Taunie lay silently too, both of them listening as they let the evening's drama ease away. "Promise."

_**TBC**_


	9. How You Play It

_**Okay, so I never realized just HOW much of the earliest chapters were cut off. Not only half of chapter one, but also of chapter two, and others as well. It's almost as if the ends of every chapter through the first half of the original version were just eaten away. As such, I'm mostly using it as a vague guide to the events of the story. Chrissy is being introduced in a different order of events here, and the explanation of what happened with how Willow knew the truth is coming. Damn but those AFF glitches tore this story to shreds.**_

Willow watched silently as Faith and Taunie laughed, fooling around more than actually training like the girl was supposed to be doing. She'd noticed the pair of them getting closer and closer, though Taunie didn't seem to be flirting any despite the closeness. Part of her was worried for her apprentice. Caring for someone that couldn't love you back, no matter how close the two of you seemed, was a painful experience. It had been a superficial, childhood crush she'd had on Xander, but she had cared strongly nevertheless. Faith wasn't any better than Xander at being careful of feelings like that, it just didn't seem to occur to her… if Faith was even aware of it.

"If you stare any harder, I'm pretty sure that they'll burst into flames." Buffy joked behind her, and Willow jumped. "What's wrong?"

"Hey Buff!" Willow smiled, her voice too chipper, and spun to stare at the blonde Slayer cradling a can of diet coke at the kitchen island. "What're you talking about?"

"I mean you were looking at them like you do me every time I have to fight an apocalypse." Buffy quipped, shrugging. She lifted the can, almost ready to drink, and commented one more thing before tipping it. "Sad and a little pissed off."

"I don't know what you mean." Willow denied, slipping onto one of the dining room chairs and flipping open the book she'd brought down to read from. She had a feeling that the answer to her latest magical questions was in it. "I had no such look on my face."

"She's still your apprentice." Buffy sighed, looking at Willow the same way that she always looked at Dawn. Willow was not a stubborn teenager that had messed up though, and only sent a rude gesture her way, much though it was against her normal character. Buffy sputtered. "Willow, she's just spending time with the girl that she's had a thing for since she moved in. Wouldn't you want to too?"

"That's part of my problem." Willow admitted, glaring down at the foreign words in the book. "I don't know if Faith is aware of the situation… or that she might be making it worse by leading Taunie on."

"Or maybe that she needs to back off because Taunie is just a teenager still?" Buffy asked, smiling. Willow blushed.

"Faith doesn't think of Taunie like that… which only makes it worse that Taunie may be taking the attention wrong." Willow sighed.

"Or maybe we're just really good, best friends, and like hanging out." Faith said, startling the shit out of Buffy and Willow. Neither had noticed the two open the back door. "Fuck Red."

"I already told you my views, Willow." Taunie said in an oddly quiet voice, making Faith's head shoot around to look at her. "I… you already know how I see it, that isn't changing. Okay? I'm gonna go for a walk."

Faith watched the teen walk through the kitchen, and then heard the front door close. There wasn't even the bass rumble of the bike starting up. "Red… that was fucking stupid." Willow glared at her. "It was. T and I already talked about it. We _both_ just want to pretend like nothing's wrong. She asked me not to change how I treat her. I've _also_ been tryin' to work on her about her confidence. So that… that was crap what you said."

"Shit." Willow groaned, pillowing her forehead in her arms.

Outside, Taunie had reluctantly left the bike behind. She loved Seelie, but it was a brisk, cool day outside, and a walk would both keep her warm, and help her to think while she stretched her legs. Sparring with Faith had turned into goofing around with Faith, and they hadn't gotten much done more than joking about some of the stupid kids at school that pestered her, or amusing stories from Faith's past. Laughing helped the abs, she thought she remembered something about it working the muscles pretty well, but that didn't do anything for the rest of her body… and certainly wasn't going to teach her how to spar or defend herself. When she'd gotten three blocks away, she realized that she'd been thinking more about how Faith and she had been goofing around than that she was upset that Willow would think she'd put herself through that.

"Maybe it wasn't healthy." She scowled and leaned against a light post. Reflecting on her feelings, it was more that, though she had had fun goofing around, she wasn't dwelling on Faith. She'd been dwelling on not being productive. "Fuck, how can it be unhealthy for me mentally if I'm not even gushing over her? Shit Willow needs to chill… or you know… say stuff to my face."

"Do you always talk to yourself?" The voice was distinctive in its slight twang, and Taunie looked up and around. A cute girl with short, shaggy cut, blonde hair was smiling at her. A simple denim jacket covered whatever she was wearing, other than equally simple pants, but the grin was friendly enough, and behind the girl was a moving truck in the process of unloading. "Hi."

"Hey… sorry. I don't normally pose in front of a new girl's house to look crazy." Taunie smirked slightly and shrugged. "Just moved in?"

"Moving in, but yeah." The girl giggled lightly at her. "I'm Chrissy. It's nice to meet you. Do you go to the high school, Supposedly-Not-Crazy girl?"

"Yeah. I'm Taunie." She offered her hand, and watched as the blonde blushed at shaking it. "You need some help bringing things in? I may look like a twig of a thing, but I've got some muscle hidden in here. I just skipped out on my work-out for the day, so it'd be my pleasure."

"Well, if I can help you to not feel guilty about ditching your exercise, then I'd love to have you help!" Chrissy joked, then judged Taunie forward at the larger boxes. "My uncle Malcom is useless. He just murmured something and adjusts his glasses before going off to make sure his study is exactly right."

"So you're from Texas?" Taunie asked, easily helping to heft the largest of the boxes. The girl looked at her in surprise before nodding. "The accent. You twang. Say yall or something."

"Yawl." Chrissy pouted.

"No, it's cute! So why'd you move here?" Taunie smiled as charmingly as she could.

"My uncle is my guardian, and there's something dealing with his work here." Chrissy answered vaguely, and shrugged as they set down the box. "You do have some muscle hidden in those arms. I feel all flattered and impressed. Should I swoon?"

"Ah, sarcasm, how I love thee." Taunie rolled her eyes, and Chrissy giggled. "How about, I help you bring your heavy things in… and then if you can find me at school, you can make it up to me by buying me lunch." Chrissy's eyebrows rose. "Not that we'd eat anything from the cafeteria. I was thinking I could use it as a weapon in biological warfare."

"If I can find you at school, you've got yourself a deal." Chrissy said, and Taunie nodded, chatting easily with her as they continued to load things into the house. It was surprisingly easy to talk to the girl, something about her making her feel more comfortable than a lot of the others at the school. For some odd reason, she almost felt like one of the Scoobies.

"Okay, Chrissy. Let the search begin." Taunie winked and moved to saunter back the way she had come.

"Wait… no last name even?" Chrissy called, sounding incredulous.

"Where's the fun in that?" Taunie yelled back without even turning to look at her. She vaguely heard Chrissy growl a few choice words, and smirked to herself most of the way home. The girl was pretty cool. Somewhat like Spike and Xander in a freakish personality merge. Absently, she said aloud to herself, "Okay, maybe I am crazy."

* * *

"Hey Taunie?" She looked up at where Willow leaned over the railing at the top of the stairs. The redhead looked sad, still. She'd mostly avoided her mentor the previous day, and had told Faith not to worry about it. "Can we talk?"

"I was kinda… heading to the game. You can come if you want." She zipped up the jacket absently, surprised at the chill in the air. This was Sunnydale after all. "It's homecoming, really late this year, but still… anyway, I promised some people at school today that I'd go."

"Yeah, Buffy and Dawn already headed out." Willow smiled softly and slowly trailed down the stairs, looking reluctant. "I just wanted to apologize."

"About what?" she absently tugged at the arms of her jacket and then reached for the spare helmet to give to the redhead.

"Taunie…" Willow's voice was sad and reproachful, and the girl looked at her in confusion. "I… I'm sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have assumed that…"

"It's okay. You had the right." Nataunia let out a deep breath and smiled brightly. "I think, anyone could have. Don't worry though. It's all cool. I'm getting over her. We're just… it's that… well, neither of us have really had… you know… close friends before. Best friends. The kind that'd believe through anything. We're trying that. The closest she ever came was Fang back in LA."

"Angel?" Willow looked surprised.

"That's what she calls him. Anyway, you heading out with me? You can use the extra helmet." She held it out, smiling. "Dawn said she and Faith'd save me a seat."

"I can't believe we're all going to a _football_ game." Willow chuckled, looking at the helmet, unsure. "I mean, which one of us has ever cared about that?"

"Buffy is working with one of the kids on the team, and promised she'd be there since his parents are out of town. She dragged Dawn along, who didn't fuss because I'm going too. One of the cheerleaders cornered me today and got me to promise to go." Taunie shrugged and gave a lopsided smile. "As both Buffy and I are going, Faith said she'd go too… and drive so that Dawn would survive the experience."

"And this thing is supposed to help me survive on your little bike?" Willow asked, looking at the girl skeptically.

"Sure as shit. I'm a kickass driver on Seelie. You'll love it." Taunie's grin grew into a full-blown smile, arrogant enough to do Faith proud even in her dark slayer days, and she shoved Willow's jacket into her arms. "Come on, we're already missing the kickoff. I've stalled as much as _I_ can. Fucking game."

"You're starting to cuss more." Willow complained, though she was cooperating. Taunie blushed, but didn't comment, and the two made their way out to the bike. It took a moment to start, which surprised the girl, but its bass purr for an engine rumble was even smoother and deeper than usual when it did. She could only assume that it approved of the passenger.

"She likes you." Taunie offered at a stop sign, surprising Willow. "Seelie. She likes you. That's good."

"Oh." Willow was jolted, having not expected her apprentice to start off again in the middle of talking to her, and clung more tightly. It was exciting to ride the thing, admittedly, though she nearly screamed every time Taunie took a corner too sharply. When they'd finally gotten to the game, she was glad that the bike made finding parking easier, but the roar of the crowd was strange. She'd thought that Sunnydale was having a bad year.

"Taunie! You came!" They were surprised when, in the middle of trying to spot where the gang was sitting, one of the cheerleaders broke formation and ran up to them. The rest of the squad was left glaring, and continuing with their cheer, but the girl bounced happily in an uncanny imitation of Dawn at her most excited. "I thought you were joking!"

"Ah, I promised. No more notes in my locker now, right?" Taunie smiled and winked, and the girl nodded. "I gotta find the fam… you know where the hot counselor and Dawn Summers are sitting?"

The girl pointed before running quickly back to her squad, ignoring their looks and seamlessly flowing back into the routine. It, at least, gave them an easier time getting to their seats. Everyone had noticed the cheerleader break away to speak with them, and as such everyone was paying attention to them, instead of the field, as they ascended to their seats. Several students called out to Taunie, surprising Willow. She hadn't realized that the girl really was that popular. Considering how shy she could be sometimes, and how she'd so briefly mentioned her life had been before, she was surprised that Taunie wasn't freaking out.

"She's a hottie, T!" Faith laughed, dragging Taunie into the seat next to her and scrunching closer to the two Summers so that Willow could fit too. "You should totally hit that!"

"If I hit her, she'd press charges." Taunie growled, smirking, and Willow giggled as Faith rolled her eyes and punched the girl's shoulder lightly. "Faith, she's practically stalking me. Like, seriously. Notes in my locker, every day… usually with her name and my name in a heart and scrawling writing. It's creepy… and hot as she is, she's kinda stupid."

"So you like smart chicks?" Faith asked with a smirk, winking, and Taunie growled. "Well, we gotta narrow it down so that you can replace the fake girlfriend with a real one."

"Not so loud! People are probably eavesdropping!" Taunie snapped, staring around. Luckily, the majority of their neighbors were paying attention to the first, and only, game of the season that Sunnydale seemed to be doing well in. "And I don't like smart chicks. I had a thing for you, didn't I?"

"Oh, that's cold T. That's cold." Faith teased, making Taunie and Dawn roll their eyes. "So where's this chick you were telling me about last night?"

"The Texan? I dunno… I ducked her at lunch after I saw her talking to the cheer squad. Fuck!" The sudden loud cheering and standing of their bleechers made the girl flail, and both Dawn and Faith had to steady her. "Shit, I think we just made a goal or touchdown or whatever."

"Touchdown." Dawn supplied with a grin. "And I think so too."

"Oi Buffy!" Taunie leaned forward and looked at the blonde on the other side of Faith. The crowd was starting to sit again, many of the men and boys there high-fiving and grunting like fools, at least in her opinion. "Which one's the boy you're helping?"

"Number thirty-seven. He's on defense, so he's not out right now." Buffy offered over the cheering, smiling down at the field. "It's almost half time, though. What took you so long?"

"Stalling." Willow and Faith offered at the same time. Both Summers girls laughed, making Taunie grumble. "What Texan, Taunie?"

Nataunia glanced at Willow, not really sure what she was talking about for a moment. When it hit her, she laughed, and leaned closer to speak over the crowd. "I met this new girl a little bit of a walk away yesterday, helped her move some stuff inside since I slacked on my training session. She was pretty cool, but I didn't feel like bein' all social and stuff at lunch today, so I ducked hangin' out with her. I'll prolly catch up with her or somethin' on Monday. No big."

"She cute?" Willow teased, making Faith laugh.

"Eh, cute enough." Taunie tried to shrug and seem nonchalant. "Didn't really feel anything though."

"I'm starting to think that you only like older women." Willow teased more, and Faith snorted, laughing more and nudging at the girl. Dawn was, predictably, pouting. Taunie simply blushed, and glared.

_**TBC**_


End file.
